Hey, I've always wondered how in the hell a person would go about holding odd shaped things that get completely cut out on the mill.
for instance. Say I wanted to cut out some letters... lets use the letter "S" for instance out of 1/2" thick aluminum 3" in Y and 2" in X. It's decorative so I can't have any superfulous holes in it.
obviously I cant just clamp up a piece in the vise and start cutting and if I were using clamps and a sacraficial base once I get almost at end of the final pass the work piece is going to start rattling and go flying around in the cavity.
The best thing that I can come up with is to "almost" cut it free and then flip it over and mill off the bottom. But that seems like it would be difficult to repeat over and over...
I just finished a Harbor Freight Micro-Mill to CNC conversion and now that I'm able to CNC cut Metal This is something that I might want to do and have no idea how to go about it.
I under stand how to make fixturing for parts that have holes that I can cut/drill first and then Run bolt in to the fixture and then remove the outer clamp downs and then do the cut out contour. But the "non hole having parts baffle me.
On the wood router I would just double stick tape it to the Table and rout away. (Does this work well with metal mills??