DIY CNC Cutting Aluminum! - Sienci Longmill Cutting Aluminum - My Experience
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- DIY CNC Cutting Aluminum? Have you ever wanted your own milling machine at home? Take a look at my experience cutting 6061 extruded aluminum plates with my Sienci Longmill.
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Jake, as a red seal machinist with several years of cnc experience with hobby level machinery on milling machines and routers, I'd like to give you some suggestions with regards to cutting aluminum.......
1) Always cut with a climb cut on a cnc machine, as I see you're doing, it takes much less power to make a cut in any material.
2) On all your cuts set your g-code so that you enter the material with a tangent lead in and lead out, with a distance of at least 1-2 cutter diameters, this will prevent machining marks at the start and finish of the process. Do this on all cuts as a general practice.
3) Set up your g-code so that you leave about 0.010" to 0.015" for a finish cut - at FULL depth. You can even do this cut twice if you want. If you have any bad finishes or machining marks, the finishing cut should eliminate all of that..... standard practice on ANY machining job, even manual work...... always do a finish cut - and make sure the finish cut is a CLIMB cut. A conventional cut will allow chips to be pressed back onto the freshly cut surface, and now you have to clean them up and you wont have a clean machined finish anymore.
4) Use WD-40 as a cutting fluid. The reason you are getting poor surface finishes is the lack of a cutting fluid. Yes it does make a bit of a mess, but cover your waste board with a sheet of 4 mill plastic before you start and that will protect the waste board. Apply the WD-40 with a sprayer (buy it in bulk cans not spray cans) or you can also just use a cheap acid brush or 1/2" paint brush to apply it as well. The WD-40 can be easily washed off with soap and water.
5) Another option for a cutting fluid is to use some paste cutting fluid called 'Anchorlube'. This is a water soluble paste that works super well on all metals, it has a very nice odor to it also, and it also washes off with warm water. Apply this with a small brush as well. This material is thick enough that it wont even sling off a drill bit if applied before starting the machine. Since it hangs on really well, it is also much less messy than a liquid like WD-40.
6) When drilling holes, don't use a ball end mill. The ball end mill has VERY limited cutting ability right at the tip because the flutes are very shallow and there is almost no clearance for chips. Slow your router down and use a drill bit. Go onto Amazon and purchase an imperial, and a metric set of collets if you can, but I don't know what type of collet is used on the Makita, it most likely is a custom collet design, but you may be able to find collet adapters (bushings) that will allow you to use different sizes of cutters.
7) I am going to be purchasing a Longmill MK2 later this year but I plan on installing a 2.2 KW spindle with a vfd. These spindles have the ER20 collets on them, and for the ER20 you can purchase a complete set of Imperial and Metric collets for it, allowing you to hang onto virtually any size of drill or cutter.
8) When cutting through a piece of material, place a 1/4" spacer under your clamps so you can cut through without cutting into the waste board. You can create 'tabs' in most CAM programs that allow you to cut out a workpiece without it coming loose as the tabs will hold the workpiece in place. You will have to cut the tabs off and clean up the outside of the workpiece, but this is a very good option.
9) Another option for cutting out a piece, if you have some holes in the workpiece, drill the holes first, then loosen some of the clamps to allow you to insert 1/4" spacers near the holes, then use the holes with some screws to re-clamp the workpiece. This could eliminate the need to use tabs for some projects.
Anyway, great video I was impressed to see the Longmill cut the aluminum. I hope you find these suggestions helpful.
Wonderful write up. Thank you. I will try your suggestions.
I am writing all of this down it my notes!
May I ask which VFD you planned on buying? I'm planning on getting one and I'm looking for recommendations
That was a great video Jake. No loud music blaring in the background, no trying to be a comedian etc., just good down to earth, serious, extensive information. Good Job Buddy!!!!!
Jim
Hi. Just a friendly tip if you dont mind. For cutting aluminium, you should have your router as high up in the bracjet as possible and build up your waste board in the area where you lay the plate down. This will reduce the bending moment on your gantry and you will probably be able to go faster and use deeper cuts.
Thanks for the tip!
Great tip and friendly approach too thanks!
Thanks for sharing your experiences machining aluminum with us. Being a new LM owner, I'm quite surprised with what others are doing with their machines.
Thanks for sharing the details of your work and learning process.
My pleasure! Glad it was helpful!
Good Video fellow LM owner! Love to see the Longmill in action and hear the challenges and solutions to problems. Probably will never cut aluminum to the degree you have, but I have cut galvanized steel flashing with the 1/8 bit from Sienci. Looking forward to more CNC Videos. Liked & Subscribed.
Thanks Steve!
nice
very helpful thank u!!
Great videos, Thank you for sharing.
Quick question, how do you keep your shop so clean? Mine looks like Pompeo.
If you only knew what was behind me... Really, I have been standing over the machine with a shop vac while it runs. Hoping to get an enclosure built and installed soon.
GREAT detail; however, a question - how to you keep the part from jumping around on the final cut without using tabs? Thanks
Howdy Jake,
My Longmill 48x30 is on order. I too am very interested in earning at least enough to pay for the machine and all its consumables.
Since I see you are making A/C parts, I have a few of questions:
1. Since I am a pilot, I know some materials must meet FAA specs. Are you able to easily source these materials?
2. Are you required to follow any special procedures, licensing, workplace/facility rules?
This is a fabulous avenue for earning!!!
Thanks for any insights you can share.
David Rodwell
Winston Salem, NC
David, this part was for a RC Turbine helicopter made by Jetcat out of Germany. Not for full scale applications. As far as material goes, I almost exclusively shop at McMasterCarr for Aluminum.
Thanks for the good information! I've heard some say that the Makita speed dial tends to change itself due to vibration. Did you have any issues with a wandering speed dial?
Thank you for watching. No I have not had any issues with the dial moving during cutting. It is a new makita, I only have about 6 hours on it so far.
Good day, nice video. What kinda bit did you use?
I may have missed it? But how many flutes, and what kind of aluminum?
2 Flutes. 6061 from McMastercarr
What 1/4'' bit did you use?
From the Sienci Starter set I used 1/4″ Spiral Up Cut End Mill