Milling cooling fins?

[Guyinthedesert]

Get an old school Arbor style milling machine. Setup the blades to cut them all on one pass. Might take 1 hour a part, but you could cut them all in one pass to depth and not worry about deflection. That was the last new machine one company I worked for got. 1965 Machine is mint condition was going to put all the CNC Machines to shame. Hate to say it, but for a part like this it very well could.

I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why this wasn't the first and only suggestion.

[specv]

http://www.ktoolinc.com/k-tool_doc_120.htm

 

or what Ron suggested, but with that set-up you'll need 20+ cutters

[ahaslam]

Did not read page two. Pretty much said what 5th (Ron) said.

[Teh Bear without Brains kinda idiot]

i KNOW that Iscar produces end mill cutters for slot milling 6 mm dia that I used for this kind of work on allum with depth of cut 7 -10 mm cooling at max with feed of at least 800 mm/min for the tool that has a height of 25 mm

Use it as the first tool at least .if there is no appropriate cutter for deeper work

Use the second and third mills for the depth of 35 and 45 mm

Use 2 flutes slot mills depth of cut 2.5 or less but drive it fast.

I mmade a lot of this stuff and got to conclusion that saw mill is not good idea.

I did my work much faster safer with less tool load

Good tooling and cooling is the must

Better use shrinks.

I made this stuff on the oldest machine in the shop with 32 k memmory so that

high speed machining was not available

Anyway I think that result would be even faster

HTH

[AMCNitro]

i KNOW that Iscar produces end mill cutters for slot milling 6 mm dia that I used for this kind of work on allum with depth of cut 7 -10 mm cooling at max with feed of at least 800 mm/min for the tool that has a height of 25 mm

Use it as the first tool at least .if there is no appropriate cutter for deeper work

Use the second and third mills for the depth of 35 and 45 mm

Use 2 flutes slot mills depth of cut 2.5 or less but drive it fast.

I mmade a lot of this stuff and got to conclusion that saw mill is not good idea.

I did my work much faster safer with less tool load

Good tooling and cooling is the must

Better use shrinks.

I made this stuff on the oldest machine in the shop with 32 k memmory so that

high speed machining was not available

Anyway I think that result would be even faster

HTH

That comment makes me think, what if you used 2 EMs?  A short one for the 1st half of the slot and then a "long reach" EM for the 2nd half?  The "long reach" can be one of those with the short LOC but a long, solid, necked down shaft.

[crazy^millman]

i KNOW that Iscar produces end mill cutters for slot milling 6 mm dia that I used for this kind of work on allum with depth of cut 7 -10 mm cooling at max with feed of at least 800 mm/min for the tool that has a height of 25 mm

Use it as the first tool at least .if there is no appropriate cutter for deeper work

Use the second and third mills for the depth of 35 and 45 mm

Use 2 flutes slot mills depth of cut 2.5 or less but drive it fast.

I mmade a lot of this stuff and got to conclusion that saw mill is not good idea.

I did my work much faster safer with less tool load

Good tooling and cooling is the must

Better use shrinks.

I made this stuff on the oldest machine in the shop with 32 k memmory so that

high speed machining was not available

Anyway I think that result would be even faster

HTH

 

Alex you ever use the machine like I talked about? I have seen some things done on these machines almost 30 years ago I would not even ask and CNC Machine to even think about doing today. You have great suggestion, but for 1500 parts I will stand behind what i originally suggested.

[crazy^millman]

That comment makes me think, what if you used 2 EMs?  A short one for the 1st half of the slot and then a "long reach" EM for the 2nd half?  The "long reach" can be one of those with the short LOC but a long, solid, necked down shaft.

 

Again for one or 2 parts okay, but we are talking about 1500 parts.

[guitar]

I'm curious to see what your thoughts are on milling these fins.

 

These were done on a vertical mill with a wheel cutter. I don't know the feed or doc specs he used but it took all day. I'm curious to see how to speed this feature up.

 

 

The fins are spaced . 250 apart

1.75 deep

15 inches long

 

Horizontal, arbor mill power fed with a stack of slitting saws spaced appropriately. You can probably do it in 1 pass in about a half an hour.

[AMCNitro]

Again for one or 2 parts okay, but we are talking about 1500 parts.

I see your point, and I agree that its the best solution.  But what if the purchase of such machine eats up all the profit from the job?  If the machine is already existing in the shop then yeah...

[crazy^millman]

I see your point, and I agree that its the best solution.  But what if the purchase of such machine eats up all the profit from the job?  If the machine is already existing in the shop then yeah...

 

Machines are less than $20k I cannot even think about getting a CNC mill to compete with that in the time savings. $13.33 a part is the cost of the machine at $20k. Shop rate of $100 a hour and add NRE for tooling and such and looking at $120 to $150 per part. Machine them for lass than that on CNC Mill in the 15 minutes others were saying then CNC is the better way, sorry my experience tells me closer to 3 to 4 hours on a Fadal to machine those parts maybe longer.

[brandon b]

Those machines are sweet ron. I've never seen one.

 

I've searched a few websites for those machines. Looks like they use em for slotting keyways and such. What else are they practical for.

 

BTW this job has gone away. The cost was to high so they are going to spend the money to have it molded

[crazy^millman]

Those machines are sweet ron. I've never seen one.

 

I've searched a few websites for those machines. Looks like they use em for slotting keyways and such. What else are they practical for.

 

BTW this job has gone away. The cost was to high so they are going to spend the money to have it molded

 

Sorry, but I figured that was coming. Lost wax process for investment Alum castings has come a long way in the last 15 years. They have it down to a .5 degree drafting at some places up to 14" deep. Quality and accuracy has also come a long way as well.

 

Shafting and slitting material. Can use be useful for squaring up material or drilling deep holes removing the attachment. Also can support a boring bar and allow deep bore to be done holding the bar very rigid.

 

Different machine a boring mill at one place I woked we could machine a 5' bore from 3" to 8" diameter in one pass with a custom made boring bar that had 60 inserted tools along the length of the bar. We would then take a 2nd custom made boring bar and machine the 8" diameter bore 5' long and hold +.001/.000 with no problems. Machine had a 20 foot travel on the bed with full mechanical 4th Axis built in Table.Machine was from Germany and everything was in Metric. We could take a 6" spade bit and drill a hole in 4140 2' deep in about 3 hours.

[brandon b]

That's impressive

[crazy^millman]

That's impressive

 

That is what different experiences give you. Worked in over 40 different shops and been in well over 200 different shops so you gain a lot of knowledge that way. Doesn't make me better than anyone else, just gives me a lot of different perspectives that many people don't have to draw from.

[brandon b]

I love it ron. Wish I can bite the bullet and find other shops ti work in. Hard with 2 young kids,wife,and mortgage

[brandon b]

And being a member of emc gives me the access to that experience to draw from. Thanks