Hello! If somebody would like to comment on my plans here it would be nice. I'm hoping somebody will see an obvious flaw in my plans and point it out. I have actually tried to find classes in milling but the cost was crazy expensive (literally 3 times the cost of my milling machine) and was at a local community college.
I have had my X3 (full 3 axis conversion run by LinuxCNC) for a few years now. I was an idiot and tried to start with aluminium and of course broke a lot of end mills and eventually lost interest. I've been using a 3D printer since but I will always come back to the question of "what if this part was metal" so here I am back trying again!
A little older and hopefully a little wiser, right?
This time I am going with a mild cold rolled 1018 steel. I got a great deal on a 3.5" x 3.5" x 5" end of a bar. I have a HSS 3/4" (19.05mm) flat end mill with 4 flutes to use for this experiment.
Since my machine is set up in metric the rest is in metric;
The Android speeds and feeds calculator says I should cut this block using 562 RPM at 215.64 mm/min. Vc: 34 m/min fz: 0.0960 mm
I have also switched CAM software and now using Fusion360 from Rhino+MadCAM. I am finding all of the features I need for the moment and even did a couple of dry runs of files it produced. It seems like its spot on with no bad habits.
I was thinking about just milling part of the block flat to start with. Get a feel for what the machine sounds like, how it behaves while cutting.
I would like to start with the ugly end and cut it smooth going a max of 1 or 2 mm step down per pass and taking it slow. This is the natural end of the bar and is very uneven. My fear is this is the 3.5 x 3.5 sides being gripped and the 5" height making the stock stick way out of the vise so it may not be stable. I am worried about the cutting process acting like a lever and yanking it out of the vise? Will it be that strong of a force from cutting it?
Anyways, going slow cutting the bad end smooth should give me a feel for how loud it will be and how much the machine will vibrate and stuff. Things that scare noobies like myself.
What do you all think? Is this a reasonable plan?
Thanks!