Quote:
Originally Posted by Thermal
Wood routers are quite capable of sheet aluminum work but you have to get a little creative about it. http://www.vhipe.com/product-private/SuperPID.htm is a great tool for that.
You're correct about the bearings though, heavy aluminum work will destroy wood router bearings in a few months. Handily though, replacement bearings are relatively cheap and not too difficult to replace. |
Team 188 has been cutting aluminum on a CNC router equipped with a wood router as a spindle for a number of years with a lot of success. Patience, conservative cut depths/feed speeds, a good cutter, and someone to stand over it with a vacuum to clear chips, and coolant are key. Don't expect to be able to hold tolerances to press-fit bearings though!
Here are the cutters that we swear by, and 188 also has adopted:
http://www.onsrud.com/xdoc/SuperO
We run them at 18,000 RPM. I think 188's wood router is a fixed speed at 24,000 RPM which is a bit fast I think, but it is possible. The single flute in the cutter makes a big difference in being able to run at these speeds.
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