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IndustryArena Forum > Manufacturing Processes > Milling > Need some advise on best ball end mill and strategy for finish pass on aluminum
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    158

    Need some advise on best ball end mill and strategy for finish pass on aluminum

    I'm working on a job that needs a fairly decent finish pass ( it's a mold for a lead fish weight )

    I'm attaching a photo of the piece to help explain it better.

    Basically it has two cutouts that are about 1 1/4" diameter and about 20 inches long.

    Currently I'm using a 1/4" ball tip end mill for the finish pass.

    I'm doing a .01" step over

    It's producing a really nice finished product, but I'm trying to get the milling time down on this.

    Currently Its taking about an hour to do the finish pass on each side of the mold. ( Each side of the mold has 2 of these cutouts )

    So the question is.... is there a more efficient tool I should be using?

    Here are some of my other settings for the 4 flute ball end mill
    RPM: 9167
    Surface Speed: 600
    Cutting Feed Rate: 95
    Feed Per Tooth : .0026

    My maximum RPM on my machine is 10,000

    Thank You...

    Kent

    Attachment 446884

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    5728

    Re: Need some advise on best ball end mill and strategy for finish pass on aluminum

    If you could use a bigger-diameter ball end mill, it would go faster. If there's room for it, it will also leave smaller "cusps" between passes of the tool. You generally want to use the largest tool that will get into the details you need.
    Andrew Werby
    Website

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    158

    Re: Need some advise on best ball end mill and strategy for finish pass on aluminum

    Thanks for the info Andrew...

    I will do some test cuts with some larger sized ball end.

    How many flute do you recommend for finish pass on aluminum ?

    Thanks again,

    Kent

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    5728

    Re: Need some advise on best ball end mill and strategy for finish pass on aluminum

    The normal bit you'd use would be a 2-flute, in climb mode. If you've got a lot of "stick-out" and want a stiffer bit you could use a 3-flute - just remember to drop the RPMs by a third.
    Andrew Werby
    Website

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Posts
    1

    Re: Need some advise on best ball end mill and strategy for finish pass on aluminum

    there is a discussion about this subject on C3D community. The discussion tile is Speeds, Feeds, Power, and Force (SFPF) Calculator. They provided a free Excel spreadsheet that facilitates the estimation and logging of CNC machining parameters and performance. The three tabs at the bottom left of the workbook access worksheets showing estimated parameters for a 60,000 RPM HF Spindle, the Makita 0701 Router, and Dewalt DWP611 Router in Shapeoko 3s. The maximum spindle/router speeds were used on each sheet to minimize cutting forces. The same 1/8" 3 flute endmill with 0.25" DOC and 0.005" WOC in 6061-T6 aluminum with ~0.001 (IPT) chip-load was used for all three.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails e58d43ead8867ae9fe018f6e8b6a4abfbe8cda33.jpg  

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