[ontariocnc]

I have a techno Isel servo gantry machine. Up to this point I have been only cutting wood and plastic. Is it ok to cut aluminum or would it put too much pressure on the motors? The machine seems robust enough but I figure the motor is the weak point and I do not want to damage it.
I don’t plan on using a heavy feed and I also plan to use a high RPM. I have a full understanding of feeds and speeds but I figured it would be better to use this combination and mitigate the stresses on the motors.
Any input would be appreciated.

Plan on a .030" cut with a .250 slot drill

Cheers

[alan_3301]

I think you'll be ok. I take 0.070 cuts with 1/4" bit in aluminum on my homebuilt machine with skate bearings.
Are you worried about your spindle or axis motors? The servo drives should monitor current and let you know if there is a problem.

[ontariocnc]

I am only worried about the axis motors,

[Pplug]

You'll be ok. I've cut a lot of al myself and never run into a problem.

[ericscottf]

You're not going to burn out the servo motors by cutting with them. If you cut wet (which is a good idea for tool life and cut quality), and they get soaked, that's another issue.

It's nice to make a solid t-slot bed out of corian or MIC-6 if you're feeling generous. One where you can hold down the material, and have a drain hole for fluids to collect from.

Think about it this way: The motors would have no problem generating enough force to snap the tool, so if you're not breaking the tool, then you're well under the threshold where you'd have a problem.

[joejared]

My own experience with various technoCNC and techno-isel products has been to limit the cuts to about 0.025" per pass for aluminum, and increase feed rates based on the diameter of the tool. I don't use techno's software, so for me it's as simple as defining dinc for each program according to material type. Here's my collection of videos involving machining of plastics, wood, and aluminum.