[slashmaster]

Trying to make pins for the band Seax to sell on their merchandise table. Could use some help planning it out. What would you do? I'm thinking use a sheet of aluminum of roadsign thickness clamped over a piece of plywood for support. Should I use a v shaped router bit to cut in between letters then an 1/8th inch dremel bit to cut it out? I can do this at the 2000 or so rpm my mill runs at can't I? But what feedrate should I use?

[Jim Dawson]

At 2000 RPM and a small V-cutter you are going to have to set the feed pretty slow. 0.5 IPM maybe? I run a 1/8, 30° V-cutter at 30,000 RPM and about 10 - 15 IPM in aluminum. Mounting a small router motor on your quill would work much better. Maybe a Rotozip or something like that. Another option is an air die grinder, or a pencil air grinder from Harbor Freight, that's what I use.

Trying to cut the parts out with a Dremel bit may not work at all, not enough chip clearance. A 1/8 inch, 2 flute endmill would be better.

Attachment 349488

[slashmaster]

At 2000 RPM and a small V-cutter you are going to have to set the feed pretty slow. 0.5 IPM maybe? I run a 1/8, 30° V-cutter at 30,000 RPM and about 10 - 15 IPM in aluminum. Mounting a small router motor on your quill would work much better. Maybe a Rotozip or something like that. Another option is an air die grinder, or a pencil air grinder from Harbor Freight, that's what I use.

Trying to cut the parts out with a Dremel bit may not work at all, not enough chip clearance. A 1/8 inch, 2 flute endmill would be better.

Attachment 349488

Thanks Jim! I'll probably try the first few at 0.5 IPM until that band has one they are sure they want many of. I thought that Dremel had a 2 flute bit that would be easy to find that I could use. Was at a Home Depot a couple days ago and saw one that says it's good for cutting holes in aluminum siding. Wouldn't that work?

[Jim Dawson]

Was at a Home Depot a couple days ago and saw one that says it's good for cutting holes in aluminum siding. Wouldn't that work?

Maybe, I haven't seen those before. Use WD-40 for cutting oil.

Should be an interesting project.