Aluminum chips clog my endmills.

[dertsap]

what I use for my personal use at home is the pipe tapping fluid they sell at home depot (in the pipe section) , it's about 10 dollars for a large bottle , a paint brush of it on a part goes a long way

[kling8]

I use 3 flute carbide end mills for aluminum. these have worked great for me really long tool life, and flooding with coolant.

[DMF_TomB]

i use regular oil as a cutting fluid for decades and it works good for me.

1) i got tired of rusty, dirty machines with dry cutting fluid gunk all over them

2) i got tired of not being able to read the dials and scales from dried residue from cutting fluids

3) i like my machines lightly oiled at all times

aluminum sticks to cutters when it gets hot and a false cutting edge sticks to the cutting edge which makes it act as a dull cutter. try a little plastic sqeeze bottle with 30 weight oil or air tool oil and apply a little to the aluminum. works for me and i have used it for decades with no problems unless you call after blowing chips off the machine it is left clean, dials and scales still readable and machine left lightly oiled a problem

[warrenb]

I avoid 4 flute endmills like the plague with aluminum.

You also didn't say what "flavour" of aluminum you're using. 6061 gums up easy. If you're plunging in and cutting pockets makes sure you use some cutting fluid. You don't need much. Just a quick brush of any good aluminum fluid should do the trick. Get yourself a mister too. Kool-Mist is super cheap, make sure you have good ventilation.

Warren

[crabbass]

I have always used WD-40 on 6061 Al. when machining on The manual equipment. Some guys like It, some are discusted by the smokes smell. I'm sure it's very toxic, ventillation is a must. You wouldn't believe how nice of a surface finish you can get , especially with hand ground HSS and Cobalt form tools on the lathe! Kool mist works great, but the smell and effects to my sinuses keep me from turning it on very often.