[Sunshine]

Originally Posted by Bruceb

What kind of router bit did you use. What was your RPM? What was your depth of cut? What was your travel speed? Did you use a ramp entry?
Thanks
Bruce

We discovered that a 1/4"- 4 flute flat mill bit worked best for the larger cutouts. And a 1/8"-2 flute for smaller cutouts.

The slowest we could get the router down to was 10,000 rpm. This was not a problem for the 1/8" bit (we calculated 9600 rpm as best) but it did cause us to slow down the feed rates while using the 1/4" bit (went through a couple of bits while we used trial and error)

We always used a plunge rate (z axis) ½ the Feed rate
We played with feed rates between 6-20" per minute. We concluded that a feed rate of 10 was about right for the 1/4" bit. We will continue to play with 1/8" bits to determine optimum speed. I'd say start at 10 and work your way up listening for chatter and aluminum loading up on bit.

We made 4 depth of cuts to get through the aluminum with finish cut at .010. The finish cut was not really cutting any depth but helped with burrs.

Not sure what you mean by ramp entry?

Hope this helps