best end mill for aluminum extrusion

[Seedy steve]

Good morning all, I have a project outside my typical work experience.

100 pcs of extrusion to mill . the part is about 4" tall with .3 wall thick.

I think that a three flute endmill is the way to go but the Question is which one?

about 5/8" or 3/4" dia. likely needed. I did prototype the job but , chipping everything away took for ever. 

So I'm thinking of cutting out chunks now. 

thankyou.        s.

[JParis]

For me, I spec and use Destiny Tools....their 3fl Viper is awesome

Helical sometimes....

[#Rekd™]

Helical or Seco A345 

[AHarrison1]

We use IMCO Streakers

https://www.imcousa.com/products/end-mill

[crazy^millman]

SGS/Kyocera 4 Flute with Thru the Spindle Coolant at the cutting edges.

Here are two choices.

20mm Rougher

3/4 Finisher

[htm01]

17 minutes ago, #Rekd™ said:

Helical or Seco A345 

+ for Helical,

tried their Ti end mills and got  150-200% improvement

[#Rekd™]

3 minutes ago, htm01 said:

+ for Helical

Their machining advisor is excellent.

[Seedy steve]

16 minutes ago, htm01 said:

tried their Ti end mills

do u mean the yellow coating? should I go with thru tool or coated?

will a rougher be worth it? if I need a .3 deep cut with a dangling tool length?

thx again.

[crazy^millman]

17 minutes ago, Seedy steve said:

do u mean the yellow coating? should I go with thru tool or coated?

will a rougher be worth it? if I need a .3 deep cut with a dangling tool length?

thx again.

Think about a 5 Flute to finish and yes use a Rougher style like I showed. With the right setup and holder can get away with 40% step over at 100% depth of cut. Really going to come down to the HP and Torque of the machine. Thru Spindle Coolant will help with chip excavation and keeping the part cool. A Unist system is also perfect for an application like this.

 

[htm01]

25 minutes ago, Seedy steve said:

do u mean the yellow coating? should I go with thru tool or coated?

will a rougher be worth it? if I need a .3 deep cut with a dangling tool length?

thx again.

steve sorry haven't tried the aluminum ones just the for Ti and SS ones with very good results

[meatychips]

I've been a big fan of iscar's chatterfree line.  I ran out of machine with one of their 1/2" endmills full slot 1.5xD.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

5 hours ago, Seedy steve said:

do u mean the yellow coating? should I go with thru tool or coated?

Light yellow coating for aluminum is zirconium nitride.  Helical calls this Zplus.  Not to be confused with the darker yellow titanium nitride.

[motor-vater]

I like IMCO or Helical, but lets be honest its Aluminum. As long as you have coolant it would be hard to mess up with any good 3 flt... 

[civiceg]

I really like the YG-1 Alu-Power endmills for Aluminum. I always say if you have chatter issues with them....you are doing something seriously wrong.

For extrusion work you may need to play around with conventional milling areas that are weak, so they don't grab on you. 

[Aaron Eberhard]

13 hours ago, civiceg said:

I really like the YG-1 Alu-Power endmills for Aluminum. I always say if you have chatter issues with them....you are doing something seriously wrong.

For extrusion work you may need to play around with conventional milling areas that are weak, so they don't grab on you. 

This is along the lines I was going to say, but with .3 thk, I don't think you'll have too much problem.  You can make good chips with .3" thickness. 

It's a real pain when you're working on thin-wall extrusion, as you always the issue of clamping it tight enough to hold, but not tight enough to deform.  Then you cut a thin strip and it grabs.  Ugh.

[JB7280]

On 1/26/2022 at 8:22 AM, htm01 said:

+ for Helical,

tried their Ti end mills and got  150-200% improvement

For Ti have you tried the Garr VX-7 endmills with their new AlCrn based coating?  With no changes other than the coating, we got 600% longer tool life!

[Newbeeee™]

23 hours ago, civiceg said:

I really like the YG-1 Alu-Power endmills for Aluminum. I always say if you have chatter issues with them....you are doing something seriously wrong.

For extrusion work you may need to play around with conventional milling areas that are weak, so they don't grab on you. 

+1 as they work REALLY well in this situation.

Other option is Seco Jabro/Tornado - can't remember the number, but it's a 2 flute slow helix but sharp hook. With extrusions, 3 flutes and high helixes can drag in or lift, where the straighter flutes (high hook) just cut a treat. I'd use a 12mm dia max.....

4 hours ago, JB7280 said:

For Ti have you tried the Garr VX-7 endmills with their new AlCrn based coating?  With no changes other than the coating, we got 600% longer tool life!

I snapped a 12mm VX5 once cutting 304 - it didn't shatter, just snapped at the top of the flutes. It had only done a couple of parts and the snapped/bottom still had razor sharp teeth. The sound it made was like a shotgun going off - one hell of a bang! Only one I ever had a problem with - great cutters!

[JB7280]

2 hours ago, Newbeeee™ said:

I snapped a 12mm VX5 once cutting 304 - it didn't shatter, just snapped at the top of the flutes. It had only done a couple of parts and the snapped/bottom still had razor sharp teeth. The sound it made was like a shotgun going off - one hell of a bang! Only one I ever had a problem with - great cutters!

Must have just had loads of  pressure on it or something.  For us it was the coating itself that seemed to make all the difference.  Even beat out a Mitsubishi endmill that was about 3 times the price.  

[Seedy steve]

On 1/26/2022 at 7:25 PM, civiceg said:

I really like the YG-1 Alu-Power endmills for Aluminum.

Thankyou all for the great thread! looks like Alu-power wins for today. the purchaser offered it up.

interesting reading here. all I can offer is my appreciation. 

s.

[JB7280]

12 minutes ago, Seedy steve said:

Thankyou all for the great thread! looks like Alu-power wins for today. the purchaser offered it up.

interesting reading here. all I can offer is my appreciation. 

s.

Steve, would you mind updating later?  I use helical Zplus almost exclusively in aluminum, and I've been hearing a lot about their stuff lately though.  Particularly the AluPower.  Never tried it because I always thought they were more of a value brand for some reason, and because I hate their website. 

[Guest]

Just now, JB7280 said:

and because I hate their website.

That's not a good reason!

[JB7280]

1 minute ago, byte said:

That's not a good reason!

Oh, I know it's a terrible reason.  But helical is SO easy to use

[Guest]

This is a great topic guys, a lot of knowledge here.

It's been so long I haven't cut these  kinds of jobs I don't bother to comment anymore my strategies, but I love to read the stories!!

[Seedy steve]

For sure, I will let u know , but I have no bench line as I do one off work almost exclusively. I sure it will be better than a standard YG four flute XL.

I'm sure they r value... ,   that's why I can have one. LOL

SAFETY THIRD!  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.  that is good sht! 

thanks .

[JB7280]

3 hours ago, Seedy steve said:

For sure, I will let u know , but I have no bench line as I do one off work almost exclusively. I sure it will be better than a standard YG four flute XL.

I'm sure they r value... ,   that's why I can have one. LOL

SAFETY THIRD!  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.  that is good sht! 

thanks .

I just processed a VERY big aluminum job with tons of holes of varying sizes.  Because of the scope of the job, I wanted a drill intended for aluminum.  I used YG-1's Dream Drill Alu for everything I could, and they worked great.  They've got a DLC coating on them, nothing builds up and I'm absolutely flying through the holes.  And they're much cheaper than the mitsu drills we tend to use a lot of.