best end mill for aluminum extrusion

[Aaron Eberhard]

In general, I'm a big fan of YG-1.   They always seem to come out as a great choice when you're comparing the cost/life/material removal/availability matrix. 

I love their dream drills, though often I've find that Kennametal is just as good and a bit cheaper & more available from the local tool suppliers that I try to deal with, at least here on the East Coast.  But as always, you can choose to dance the "I have no idea what I'm actually going to pay from MSC until I order it" purchasing dance... 

[Seedy steve]

3 hours ago, JB7280 said:

I wanted a drill intended for aluminum. 

no such luck here. Just the cheap old HSS jobber drills.

do u have any idea what kind of cutting speed can I get away with on crap drills?

I've been using close to 200 but not over yet...' how  much more can she take Captain?'

 

thx

S.

 

[JB7280]

16 minutes ago, Seedy steve said:

no such luck here. Just the cheap old HSS jobber drills.

do u have any idea what kind of cutting speed can I get away with on crap drills?

I've been using close to 200 but not over yet...' how  much more can she take Captain?'

 

thx

S.

 

I usually run about 300SFM in aluminum with cobalt screw machine drills. 

[Tim Johnson]

58 minutes ago, Seedy steve said:

no such luck here. Just the cheap old HSS jobber drills.

do u have any idea what kind of cutting speed can I get away with on crap drills?

I've been using close to 200 but not over yet...' how  much more can she take Captain?'

 

thx

S.

 

We run our HSS jobber drills at 350 SFM starting at 1/8", solid carbide drills at 850 SFM starting at 7/32" and  409 SFM starting at No.36 coolant thru drill and up to 590 SFM at 1/2" in aluminum.

[Newbeeee™]

On 1/28/2022 at 4:25 PM, Aaron Eberhard said:

In general, I'm a big fan of YG-1.   They always seem to come out as a great choice when you're comparing the cost/life/material removal/availability matrix. 

I love their dream drills, though often I've find that Kennametal is just as good and a bit cheaper & more available from the local tool suppliers that I try to deal with, at least here on the East Coast.  But as always, you can choose to dance the "I have no idea what I'm actually going to pay from MSC until I order it" purchasing dance... 

+1

Dream drills in the UK, are one of if not, the best value for money carbide available. Great size and finish.

[Camelot]

We almost exclusively machine aluminum (both castings and billet) the YG-1 Dream drills are our first choice.  But for any holes with a positional tolerance tighter than .003", we go to the more expensive Walter Titex.  The Dream drills tend to wander more than Titex,  More so in billet because of the grain structure.     

[Seedy steve]

LOL  we r finally cutting !!

 

but I was off when they had to do final setup and use my file.

it is running ok but I was unable to get my hands on, to do a proper fine tune.

so it squeals a bit... all is well , but no real feedback here.

I'm on an old Toshiba boring mill now.

thanks again to Everyone who chimed in.