I know Halloween was a month ago but you'd think it was this afternoon in my garage. I've finally got around to hooking up my flood coolant and setting up vises, a tooling plate, etc. So I got all this set up and try to cut. It comes out so bad it's embarasing. Here are the specs...
12" x 24" .09" 6061-T6 aluminum sheet from Speedy Metals
Speedy Metals - .090" 6061-T6 Aluminum Sheet
0.25" 4-flute HSS endmill - brand new
.025" depth of cut
25 IPM
SynKool coolant
And here is a video showing the monstrosity:
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiee3GQAEoQ"]YouTube - Beaver Nibbling Some 6061 Aluminum[/nomedia]
Any suggestions? I've never cut the plate before, always just small flat stock and I've never had anything gum up this bad. I tried this same metal with a BRAND NEW .25" 3-flute Maritool carbide bit, a lightly used 2-flute .25" end mill as well. I also tried from as slow as 20 IPM (MUCH WORSE) and up to ~35 IPM (no visible improvement).
Thanks in advance for the help!
-Mike