Tried to cut a 2 inch deep pocket in aluminum with a 1/4 inch end mill because I was out of the right tool.

The thing just started screaming and threw chips like a firework. I got a perfect finish on the bottom, but the part warped into a little bowl shape from the heat. Learned that just because the machine can do it, doesn't mean the material will cooperate. Anyone ever save a job with a totally wrong tool and had it work out weird?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_emma1mo ago

Man I read somewhere that aluminum basically acts like a heat sink with small tools and just holds onto all that thermal energy until it warps, which explains the bowl shape lol.

morgan.adam1mo ago

Yeah that aluminum just sucks up all the heat when you push a small tool like that. Been there. You can sometimes save it by taking crazy light passes and blasting it with coolant, but it's a gamble. Once had to finish a slot with a drill bit because a mill broke, left a weird stepped finish but it held tolerance. The machine doesn't know the tool is wrong, it just does what you tell it.