[crane550]

Was excited to pick up my new Amana bits today at my local saw shop.

On inspection I was immediately disappointed with the V bit. It's the 1in 90*, and I thought it would be a great replacement for my worn out Home Depot bit, the problem is it is not perfectly pointed at the tip.

Forgive the ASCII art, and the photo will not show what I mean as well as I want, but the tip looks something like VV at the end. The result is 3/16" valley at the bottom of my V.. This means no square corners when V carving. My radius is limited to about 3/16, which is too much for me.

From CNC

Act two:

My new aluminum bit. Clamped down my first piece of aluminum, fired up the router, set my speed to 8ipm, and lowered for the first cut. BANG. Motors stall. All hell broke loose. So did my bit.

From CNC

Considering I wrote a check for $111.20 for the two of these, I was hoping for a little more.

The problem with the V bit is obvious.In the ad's it shows a perfect 90* point at the end. My $20 home depot bit could deliver that, don't see why Amana tool cant. The aluminum bit, I'm not so sure. 8IPM seems pretty safe. No, I did not put on lube, but to break immediately on contact....

[ger21]

8ipm is much too slow, and most likely why the bit broke. You need to cut much faster to keep the bit from getting hot, especially when cutting dry.

[Jason Marsha]

The vbit was most likely dropped on its tip.

If your work piece moved or the Z axis is not rigid the Al bit can break.


Jason

[analogman]

I have had great success with Belin Y bits in .080 aluminum sheet. Wet (WD40, windex) and dry.

[crane550]

8ipm is much too slow, and most likely why the bit broke. You need to cut much faster to keep the bit from getting hot, especially when cutting dry.

Not sure thats the case here, the bit broke immediately on contact. There was not anywhere close to enough time for it to heat up.

The good news it my local supplier handed me back the check I wrote him after telling him my story. He immediately refunded my $111.20 and said come again when I get it figured out.

I definitely will.

For now I guess it's back to the $20 home depot bit. Can anyone recommend a good V Carving bit that will have a definite 90* end?

Also, any ideas on why the aluminum bit would break? It is true that the piece was ripped from it's clamp when it broke. I will post a pic of the alum I started cutting.

[ger21]

It is true that the piece was ripped from it's clamp when it broke.

That's why. It pulled the part into the bit.

And a bit will heat up pretty much instantly when spinning at router speeds.

[skypoke]

72 ipm
24,000 rpm
.05 cut depth per pass
1/8" spiral up cut solid carbide. Not an aluminum specific bit.
No lube, cooling etc. What cooling it gets comes from dust collector.

We're cutting 5083. Gummy stuff. Good success.

Chuck

[revwarguy]

Don't know if this helps, but I've been cutting .062 and .093 aluminum 6061 instrument panels with a 1/8 in bit at full router speed and at 15 ipm dry with an Amana type bit "O"

at
http://www.toolstoday.com/p-5801-alu...iantids=9799,0

for $27.00 and they work just great. I have a plunge depth of 8 ipm and an xy feed of 15 ipm and take off 12 thou per pass. The 1 hp Bosch Colt router bearings get hotter than the cutter.

Tried wd40 at first, and it just made the swarf gum up, found that it cut better dry. I also found that using climb instead of conventional milling made a great difference!

As for 90 v carve, I found that even the cheap ones work pretty well on wood. I agree with the earlier poster, I bet the Amana v bit you got was dropped or something.

As long as we're on favorite bits, I found one for profiling or pocketing that works great for not only wood but cutting acrylic or lexan type plastic - its a straight (the flutes are straight as well as it produces a straight dado type groove) 1/8 inch Bosch bit sold at Lowe's. Not expensive (about $20 I think), great on plastic. (You don't want to use a mill type bit on plastic.)

[stk2008]

Hi all I did post this in another thread but had no reply.

I used WD40 and all so found it gums up.

Then I had a cut going and needed some thing fast I picked up carburetor cleaner (its flammable though so use at your own risk) but damn it was awsome I mean it worked really well.

I think its due to the fact it evaporates fast to and if any one has ever sprayed it on there hands its very cold.

Give it a go .