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jaydee · 01-07-2003, 08:11 PM

I think the hardest thing about this block is going to be milling it. bigbens block will not be nearly as impossible to mill as this one. I am pretty certain I could do bigbens but this one I could not and I am not sure any mill can. The reason is the slop in the mills axis and the ever so slight vibration when cutting. If the cut is strait it doesn't matter as much but when you are cutting a curve it is much more of a problem as it vibrates more side to side as both axis are moving and with fins that small the endmill will just vibrate right through the fin into the other channel. I experimented with this a bit when I made my mini spiral and I could not cut a curve with anything less than a 1/16" channel wall or it would collapse the channel wall. If I ran as slow as the CNC software would let it run then I could get away with 1/16". And that was with aluminum aswell which is 10 times easier to mill. Copper vibrates even more as it is a lot denser. I need to get some 1/16" endmills one of these days and see what it can do. It seems the smaller the end mill the better my mill likes it.

01-07-2003, 08:11 PM	#55
jaydee Put up or Shut Up Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 6,506	I think the hardest thing about this block is going to be milling it. bigbens block will not be nearly as impossible to mill as this one. I am pretty certain I could do bigbens but this one I could not and I am not sure any mill can. The reason is the slop in the mills axis and the ever so slight vibration when cutting. If the cut is strait it doesn't matter as much but when you are cutting a curve it is much more of a problem as it vibrates more side to side as both axis are moving and with fins that small the endmill will just vibrate right through the fin into the other channel. I experimented with this a bit when I made my mini spiral and I could not cut a curve with anything less than a 1/16" channel wall or it would collapse the channel wall. If I ran as slow as the CNC software would let it run then I could get away with 1/16". And that was with aluminum aswell which is 10 times easier to mill. Copper vibrates even more as it is a lot denser. I need to get some 1/16" endmills one of these days and see what it can do. It seems the smaller the end mill the better my mill likes it.