pic: 294 Prototype Base frame rail - almost done

[AdamHeard]

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[Qbranch]

WOW! Those are huge! or so they look in the picture... how long are those? And are those milled out pockets going to be cut all the way through?

Is that 6061 (-T6)? 7075? ? Carbide cutter? What were your cut parameters to get that much aluminum chunked out in an hour? 1/2" End mill? Carbide? Chip tooth?

Ok.... so i'm feeling deprived... you got my blood going when i saw a big piece of aluminum. Hmmm i think i need to design something so i can make some parts... i havent crunched aluminum in a whole week... guess you can have withdrawls...

-q

[techtiger1]

Looks like 6061 with a 1/2 in endmill judgeing by the size of the slots and finish of the alumnium. I could be totally wrong though. BCR you guys are great. Adam good luck with that chasis design it is quite the project and will be worth it in the long run. Looking good so far with those frame rails reminds me of a west coast version of a 233 chasis.

Good stuff,
Drew

[AdamHeard]

This is the first one cut so we tried a few different finishing patterns. the far end was cut all the way down with a 1" end mill, and then fileted with a 1/4" 4 flute end mill; We had to run really low ipm's though because it kept deflecting we kept loading the cutter with chips.

The near end turned out much nicer when we got a short and stubby 2-flute that we ran at 80 ipm (We can still run faster, we just wanted to test everything) and made a much nicer finish. We still used the 1" to rough it, but we didn't go all the way down, so the 1/4" still made the final pass.

Now, 1/4" seemed small to me.... but the instructor at the shop really, really knows his stuff; so I'll trust him .

As for the size, the finished product will be .375" x 5" x 37.5" for all the rails. Also, 233 was definitely an influence.

Thanks for the comments.

[techtiger1]

Yup Alumnium does that to endmills. I have a question Adam are you running coolant on that part becuase if you aren't you really need to. Also I hope you bumped down your step size with the 1/4in endmill as supposed to the 1 in. I can definitely see that 233 was an influence. Anyway just some thoughts on that reply post. Once again good luck.

-Drew

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by techtiger1

Yup Alumnium does that to endmills. I have a question Adam are you running coolant on that part becuase if you aren't you really need to. Also I hope you bumped down your step size with the 1/4in endmill as supposed to the 1 in. I can definitely see that 233 was an influence. Anyway just some thoughts on that reply post. Once again good luck.

-Drew

Yeah, so much coolant is flowing that it still looks like a flat plate when cutting.

I'll admit, I did the CADing and not the MasterCAMing, but the guy that did it knows what he's doing so all the rates and such are reasonable. Thanks for the input.

In case anyone is wondering, the main influences are 233 (for the modules), 33 (for the transmission) and the "west coast drive" (4/22/60/254/968/1138) for the method of using angle that sits on the cross supports for bolt on super structures. The wheels were originally modeled after what 217 did in 2004, but are now more generic.

[robostangs548]

Those look pretty sweet if you ask me!