Re: Any "Best Practice" Recommendations for clearing chips and feed/speed when cutting Aluminum??

Weeelll dear,

Oil and kerosene are also flammable, and both have been used for
lubricating machining processes for decades...

And I've been using wd-40 for alum for nearly that long. No fires.
I have "pulled" the "slurry" you speak of through a commercial
wet/dry METAL "shop vac" with no problems, but I always worried a bit.

I would not use motor oil. Motor oil is designed to keep metal parts
AWAY from each other. You wan't the cutter to penetrate the material
as readily as possible; this is better accomplished by a formulation
designed for CUTTING.

One solution is to use flood coolant. You can set it up with a little
more force than usual to "wash" the slurry away. Another approach is
to change the tool orientation; looks funny, but works(for small
sherline type mills).

The jet-blast of air is good advice if you can enclose your machine
so that the chips are not blown everywhere.

Mist- cooling systems are great: and horrible. When they are
adjusted properly and working well, life is good. Much of the time
they are spitting too much "stuff" in the air and creating the
problems yethdear describes...

Plan to accept some of this type of problem; it is part and parcel of
the miniature machining world you have entered. Plan your cutting to
minimise the EFFECT of the "slurry" (and subsequent re-cutting of
chips). You will find yourself learning when to use more, when to use
less "lubricant/coolant"; accept that this will also be a learning
process.

There is so much variation of material/part/process that it is
difficult to answer some of these types of questions... Is there an
experienced machinist nearby you can befriend (hundreds of
experienced machinists are now groaning at Ballendo<G>). How about a
metalworking class at night?

Hope this helps.

Ballendo

P.S. Yethdear gave ya good advice on the speeds/feeds, IMO.

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., "yethdear0" <yethdear0@y...> wrote:
> Howdy, yethdear here again;
>
> Welcome to the wonderful world of machining metal. EWWWWWW! Don't
use
> WD40, yes this flammable and you are risking a lot using it for
> machining. Here are some suggestions for you.
>
> Purchase a small air compressor and tank for about $100. Then plumb
> up an air cooling system using 1/8" copper tubing. Make an air
blast
> nozzle that is attached to you machine so that it supplies a
constant
> flow of air to your cutter at all times. This will cool your cutter
> and blast away the chips too.
>
> Go to www.use-enco.com, they have a variety of spray mist systems
> that you can buy. These work good but they are messy and pose
health
> problems if you use them in a confined area. Enco also has a
variety
> of cutting fluids and oils that you can buy in small quantities.
Some
> of these can be mixed with water or used full strength. I usually
> pour some in a spray bottle and then apply a squirt now and then as
> you need it when machining. They also have a variety of cutting
> fluids and tapping fluids that come in a squirt bottle.
>
> I sometimes use old motor oil. It works good as far as lubricating
> but can smoke quite a bit. I just apply it with a brush. No matter
> what, you are going to have some mess. This is not <snip>