I'd need to cut a 0.058" wide x 0.028" deep circular groove in 6061 aluminum. The groove is about 1 1/2" diameter and will used as part of a face type "O" ring gland. I can only run the spindle on my home CNC mill to 4500 rpm, so this will limit the feed rate. I have a
0.058" carbide 2 flute end mill. My feed calculator shows I can run this cutter at 15.7 IPM feed or 0.0017" IPT at the full cut depth of 0.028". This seems wildly optimistic but I've never worked with end mills this small before. I'm thinking maybe two passes instead at 0.012" deep with a finish pass 0.004" to clean the floor. The end mill has a 5/16" max depth of cut so it's fairly stubby. I also have a 4 flute 0.058" cutter I could use instead. Any comments?- posted
13 years ago