Cobalt 1/2" course roughing 4FL EM to the max ?

[twocik]

I'm currently running a cobalt 1/2" course roughing 4FL EM at
- 3100 rpms
- 36.7 IPM cut feed rate
- 7 IPM plunge feed rate
- spiral cutting at .14" depthInc
- flood coolant
- Material - 6061-T6

My parts are .62" deep and trying to push this a little faster if I can, but I'm starting to think this is all she has... Any thoughts ?





Here's what the parts look like

[tikka308]

Those almost look like Cineik Camera Hot Shoe Handle by CINEIK — Kickstarter

I switched from a 4-flute rougher to a 3-flute to improve chip clearance. Although I use a Trico MD-1200 in lieu of flood (high-pressure flood coolant may do a better job - I don't know). With a 1/2" Maritool carbide 3-flute EM, I can easily cut 0.25" DOC, 2800 RPM, 25 IPM (sometimes push it up to 30) with 80% stepover. However, I reduce the DOC for sloting - usually to 0.125 to 0.1875 DOC.

This is a short video with that approximate cut recipe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2t0sDBzYmE]Hoggin' Aluminum with Tormach PCNC 1/2" Rougher - YouTube

Now hurry up and get my hot shoe handle shipped

[Wog]

Great pictures and videos guys...

+1 on the 3 flute, I also go with .26 depth cut using a 3/8" in 6061.

My approach on parts with a flat side and through holes is to bolt them to a fixture. Also to machine them from bar stock so that I don't need to mill the flat sides. In the photo there are 2 (cheap) matching vises that hold the fixture. I use the pallet method to make these, always having the next one ready to machine.

The smaller holes are CNC drilled to line up with the threaded ones.
I punch the larger holes with an ironworker for better chip removal, but they really aren't necessary.

You'd need to flip and remount the parts to chamfer the opposite side, but in my case, I just tumble them.

[twocik]

tikka308 - I just saw this the other day, very nice fixturing and chip flow. The art of fixturing, love it. lol they're coming brother, I've optimized this code as fast as I can go with this machine. I was hoping I could go a little faster, but I think that's all she's got... Either way I've dropped 7 mins off the top side from the original code and things are really moving. Did you get the polish or anodize finish ?

Thanks for the support !



Wog, thanks for sharing the photos and info. For this part I thought about this, but was faster to just flip and shave. I bought a 2.5" GMT FM45 and does that things rock ! Still have a little more testing, but so far it's been great. For my next project I bought 2 vises from GMT and had them matched, along with the Mitee bite toe clamps. If it's here on time, I might be able to machine 10 or more HSH at once, wouldn't that be nice....

[BobWarfield]

Twocik, you can go faster if you can clear the chips. Need to figure out how to get them to pile up less in the roughing stage. You may need more pressure from your flood system or maybe you can get by aiming the nozzles better.

Be totally paranoid about getting those chips out of the way and you can crank it up.

A 3 flute carbide of decent quality should go circa 4000 rpm times 40-50 IPM with a serrated rougher.

Cheers,

BW

[twocik]

Hi Bob,

"Be totally paranoid about getting those chips out of the way and you can crank it up."

I couldn't agree more.

Those pics don't do me much justice, I had to turn down the flood to take pics. The chips you see in that pic are from the (.02" woc @ full depth of 0.62") finish mop, not the roughing mop. Sorry I guess I should have posted that instead... The roughing I didn't take a pic of because I'm too busy moving the chips out of the groves after about .3" depth.


This is the brand I normally use for finishing, maybe I'll give the rougher a try... HMMMMMMM I might be able to get rid of a tool change if this works.

3 Flute for Aluminum – Series 119 - PROMAX Tools



Thanks for the tips !

[twocik]

Bob any future plans on Gwiz for the iphone ?

[BobWarfield]

Bob any future plans on Gwiz for the iphone ?

Probably not, screen real estate is to tight. You'd be scrolling through multiple screens to get at all the options. An iPad or Android tablet might make sense though.

Best,

BW

[david parkhurst]

What type coolant are you useing ? great looking parts .

[crawley]

great looking parts man! I'm running 3/8" end mills (3fl roughing carbide) at .2" DOC, 30IPM, 3500RPM slotting 6061 and getting good results. I think it maybe could be pushed faster, but at the cost of piece of mind- I let the mill start and am nowhere near it while it runs for about 20 minutes at a time.

How are you engraving those logos, they look great.

[twocik]

I use hangsterfers 777 coolant and run it at about 12% mixture for tapping. Here's the link to the product, it will run about $200 for a 5 gal.

S-777 Details


Thank you. I'm really thinking the 3FL makes more sense for the deep channels and I'm going to give it a try. I have these in 3/8 from a company called promax, but not in 1/2". I also order a few of the mitee bite toe clamps for a fixture or two. I'll see if I can get the stock a little closer to the part size, so no need for all of this roughing. I'm using a .125" Melin mill drill, but with a few tricks in the cam settings. I'm actually able to run this at 4 - 5 IPM no problem.