Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] milling fine detail in metal

In a message dated 08/25/2000 6:01:46 AM Hawaiian Standard Time,
brycebernard@... writes:

<< Thanks Joe,
0,005 is pretty Fine... hard to imagine even.
Just located the MSC website and ill have a look through it later.
anyone else with experience cutting metal with a 0.02 inch Mill???
Do I need air cooling liquid cooling or none at all.
can anyone recommend any good reading on this subject.
Bernard

>>

Bernard,

I have done work with .032 end mills in aluminum. I ran them at about 3500
RPM, the fastest spindle I had at the time. Thats much too slow. The IPM was
very dismal. Like .5 IPM. I ran them completely imersed in cutting oil. Heat
was not the problem, it was the chips clogging the flutes the moment oil was
lost. Then the cutter of course snapped off. Once I made a little tank to
hold my blank, the submerged cutting made the life sorta predictable. After
so many runs of the part, I simply changed the bit to minimize imbedding the
broken cutter tip in the part. Once in a while, I'd pull the blank off the
jig only to find the part only partially cut. That's life with a tiny cutter.

Peter
THRD, Inc.