Just making more parts to convert my lathe to CNC. I cut a bunch of aluminium plates with a single flute 4mm end mill - this vid shows just one of the parts being cut..
hello, do you have vacuum table to hold the materials or just clamps ... I'm asking because I want to know what is the rule of the red pressure foot !! is it just for vacuum cleaner or it's work also as clamp down the parts ( i see here that the big circle stayed on the place after the cutting it didn't moved or jumped up ) how you do that ? I have problem with cutting parts specially when I'm using upcut bit ....appreciate your help
+Dana Ng I don't cut enough aluminium to know the answer. But if you get your rpm and feed speed right, the small chips produced take the heat away, so there's no need for coolant. The end mill and aluminium piece were cool to touch when the toolpath was finished.
I can't show this one as the machine was sold a long time ago, but it's pretty simple - in this vid you can see a metal baseplate with a tube welded to it at the front and 2 linear rods at the back. You can't see the mounts that hold my spindle. They have a hole for the tube to slide through, and 2 linear bearings for the linear rods to slide through. The assembly moves up/down easily, and I have also added springs around the linear rods to add pressure as sometimes the material being cut isn't flat.
+Lens Tj I don't know where you are located, but here in Melbourne (and all major cities in Australia) it is readily available. I use the galvanised tube, it's know as "Duragal" at the steel merchants. It's very uniform in size and very smooth.
