Re: orange peel on aluminum

Good evening,

I saw this post earlier and have been giving it some thought.

I would say that it sounds to me like your tool is 'rubbing' just a
bit causeing the machine or at least the spindle in the machine to
vibrate or resonate which in turn causes the orange peel effect.

I'm going to take it we are talking a cemented carbide tool here. I
would suggest that you resharpen the edge of the tool and put a 1/32
or larger radius on the end. Make sure it is sharp and stone it to a
shiney sharp edge if you need to with a (green) silica carbide stone.
A Carborundum stone will not work well here. Make sure you have a
good positive top rake and adequate end clearence and side rake. This
will give a better shearing action and decrease the load on the tool.
Don't try to take too much at once where depth of cut is concerned if
this is a lite duty machine with a quill. Kerosene, varsol, and even
a light oil or WD-40 will keep the chips from welding to the part or
your tool. If this doesn't work I would say that you have another
factor at play in this situation.

Donald Brock

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., george@f... wrote:
> I used a flycutter on a peice of 6061-t6 and got a organge peel
type
> texture.
> What causes this?
>
> TIA
> Geo.