Anyone use DLC endmills? What has been your experience? Are they worth the cost? I have glanced at some articles on high speed milling of metals. The article discussed some specifications regarding the chip evacuation, micrograin vs coarse grain carbide, coatings and their propensity to react with aluminum thus aluminum sticking to the tool and producing build up. With spindles that won’t reduce speed, I think this would be one of few possibilities. I’m not going to pay the cost of a diamond coated endmill, but I might consider DLC, depending on the response.
“Diamond Like Carbon” for machining aluminium without coolant?
I’m not sure that kind of tools makes sense in a DIY environment.
With the chatter and runout of a homemade CNC frame, such expensive tooling will probably be an expensive waste of money.
Find the limit of your machine, before finding a solution to a problem you may not even have. You haven’t even put a single piece of material through it yet, have you?
Trochoidal milling can solve a lot of ‘problems’ and lets you cut aluminium without lubricant, at the expense of a longer cutting time. It’s not all loss - you can cut deeper and avoid a finishing pass, so its swings and roundabouts. It also means cheaper tools, that last longer.