On Monday, February 13, 2012 07:18:35 AM Erik Christiansen did opine: > On 13.02.12 01:10, gene heskett wrote: > > This particular sheet of alu seems to be dead soft. The chips it was > > making looked about the right size spinning around in the oil. > > > > I don't have water out there other than used. :) And no real drainage > > system exists although I have considered just setting the whole mill > > into a pan about an inch deep, if I could find a suitable pan. > > Gene, if milling that shiny toffee is the only game in town, and there's > neither water nor drainage, then what about methylated spirits in a good > spray bottle? Lots of that should cool well, and evaporate. > > The one time I milled soft Al sheet was once too often. The swarf welds > back onto the workpiece, the way I go at it. Definitely needs coolant, > but it's still masochism. > > Do you have an unloved diecast box, or larger aluminium-ish cast > enclosure, with a sufficiently thick section that you can hack out? I've > found that milling cast Al can be done without coolant, and without > toffee-like tackiness. The swarf comes off cleanly, but a bit of metho > spray can help prevent eventual build-up. > > Erik > > > Running under cutting oil, about 1/16" deep, is a shop that's showing > > 51F, really s/b cold enough. > > My experience is limited, but for me, the oil just helps to keep the > swarf near the tool, and even drag it back between the tool and > workpiece. Perhaps I should have used a higher spindle speed, but it's a > pain to shuffle the belts on the 3/4 ton mill. > > Soft Al is only good for melting down together with a bit of copper and > a bit of zinc, to make an alloy we can machine, I think. > > Erik
Chuckle, I believe that may be the best solution yet for this crap. ;-) Cheers, Gene -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> Where am I? Who am I? Am I? I ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Try before you buy = See our experts in action! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-dev2 _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
