Originally shared by Marvin Stuart
My Aluminum Milling
Oh now I see how it went =)
I’ve tried a few different techniques milling aluminum on my mini-mill and found that most cutting oils (and WD40) just make the chips stick to the cutter. After a few broken small end-mills, I rigged a flexible pipe to a small airbrush compressor. The air stream keeps the chips out of the cut, cools the tool, and doesn’t toss the chips very far. It’s just enough air to keep the cut clean. No more broken bits and chatter was eliminated.