Lakeshore - AluPower - AlumaCut

[Bob La Londe]

I never used Lakeshore except for one roundover mill that only they make at an only slightly exhorbitant price. (almost $100) I mention them because another thread in this section of the forum asked about them where I commented that I liked AluPower mills.

I've been using AluPower end mills from 1/8 to 1/2 inch for a long time. They do a decent job of cutting aluminum and leave an acceptable finish.

I had been using the stubby little 90 degree spotting drill from Rogue Systems Inc for a while. I usually only chamfer with it, and recently I decided I wanted one for every machine in the shop that has quick change tool holders. At the moment that's three, and soon to be four if I ever finish the spindle swap in machine four. While I was on Rogue's website I decided to order a few other things to "try". This included a single form thread mill (love it on the 24K spindles) and some of their aluminum geometry mills. Alumacut. I bought some 1/4" ones. I accidently got ones with longer flutes than I normally buy, but meh, I'll use them. I figured if they chattered I could just slow down or speed up.

I few days ago I snapped (my mistake) the 1/4 AluPower on my Hurco, so I swapped out to an AlumaCut mill in the Kwik 200 tool holder and after touching off pressed start. At first I thought I had missed the stock. It was MUCH quieter and the roughing passes looked really good. Good enough to be finish passes. I left that machine running and headed into the small machine room where I was noting the surface finish on one of the little 24K rpm machines wasn't that great. I swapped out the 1/4 AluPower in an ISO20 holder to a Rogue Systems AlumaCut, and started the next job on that machine. Wow! I mean it. Wow! And as decent mills go they are pretty cheap. I ran the AlumCut at the same speed, feed, WOC, and DOC as I had been running the AluPower and the finish was better and the mill ran quieter.

The one draw back to Rogue Systems Inc is that they don't seem to have everything they make on their website. In my search to try more tools from them I searched for another size single form thread mill courser pitch than the little one I got from them previously. Then I found exactly what I was looking for on Ebay and the seller was Rogue Systems Inc. Go figure.

Similar Threads:

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• Lakeshore Tool Service

[jwatte]

FWIW, I've used their uncoated 3-flutes for about a year, and they run well. Probably as well or better than the Niagara Cutters I used before.
The price is certainly good, too!