I jumped from wood to aluminum thinking it would just be a slower version of the same process. But no it’s not, it’s a completely different operation and chip evacuation becomes critical fast. You also need coolant or at least a strong air blast and machine rigidity matters a lot more too. You will also notice the difference if you ignore climb and conventional milling.
My first cut turned into the end mill rubbing instead of cutting and I ended up welding aluminum onto the bit. After some trial and error, I learned to back the feed rate down until I could actually hear the cut clean up. Slow and steady with aluminum isn’t weakness, it’s just how the material wants to be machined.
My first cut turned into the end mill rubbing instead of cutting and I ended up welding aluminum onto the bit. After some trial and error, I learned to back the feed rate down until I could actually hear the cut clean up. Slow and steady with aluminum isn’t weakness, it’s just how the material wants to be machined.
