John, I used a product similar to what you are talking about over 10 years ago. In my opinion,not necessarily the right answer,it will work very good for you if you machine the innermost pockets first and then fill it with the low temp. alloy because it does expand slightly. Then you can machine the outer edges because the alloy will dampen vibration. When you are ready to release the alloy, flip the part upside down and either heat it with a heat gun or warm it up in an oven. The blank of alloy should drop out because the aluminum will expand and the alloy will shrink slightly before it turns to a liquid state. (Warning--do not leave it unattended in an oven for too long or you will have a big mess.) Hope that helps.
Regards, SmartCAM Nut. BTW ... we are converting to MasterCAM at my company, most of us veteran SmartCAM users are kicking and screaming! (Some features which are not available on MasterCAM v.8 were options in SmartCam v.4.51) In a message dated 1/8/01 2:15:12 PM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << I have a thin wall aluminum housing with pockets on both sides to machine. Does anyone have experience using low melting temperature alloys ie. melt temp around 150F?..Would it release cleanly from the aluminum housing when melting it out? Would it provide good dampening characteristics? Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you, John Coulston www.cbrcnc.com >> ====================================================================== To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================================
