Hi Steve - If your friend bought the Ali from a store and its general purpose stuff then it will be quite buttery and needs good deep cuts with lots of lub to allow a good cut. It won't be in a hard temper (T6) that machines well. I've only cut Ali on mills. My router does a terrible job on Ali so I'm making a mill. Look around for a speed/feed recommendation for that material.
https://littlemachineshop.com/mobile/speeds_feeds.php
Keep trying and there may be a combo that works... Peter