This may be a dumb question, but here goes. I have a piece of alum. .125" thick that I was using as a splitter on my TS. I bought a Frued thin kerf blade and need a thinner splitter, so I need to mill about .025" off the splitter and was thinking I could do it with an end mill with a 1/2" shank in my router and holding the splitter to the work bench with double sided tape. Does this sound safe enough to do? Thanks.
Reminds me of the old redneck joke that starts with what were the redneck's last words? "Hey, watch this. . . . ." Ed
Hi Paul,
Safety issues are often a judgment call, but here's mine:
"No." I would not do it.
That router is spinning at something like 22000 RPM if the tape let go for any reason the splitter would be a flying blade.
I would go in the direction of making a splitter to use with the thin blade, or perhaps better yet:
Why not clamp the splitter at one end and file the other, then switch. If you are trying to remove only .025" or so, filing it would be reasonable, and safe.
HTH,
sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.. if you must, just use sandpaper and sand it.
randy
Risky! What I've done using a piece of 1 1/2" aluminum angle is to cut off a piece as long as the splitter will be, screw it firmly to the edge of a flat 2"x4" (the leg that will be the splitter is vertical, the other leg is horizontal and has the screw through it), hold this assembly against the miter gauge (clamping would be a good idea), and push it past the blade. Trims it nicely.
Kim
Here is a reply to a dumb question with another dumb answer . have you ever heard of a thing called a file .....????? mjh
Post a video when you try it to ABPW!! I would not try it! Greg
No. Don't do it! You'd give an entirely new meaning to the expression "being PO'd". Double-sided tape isn't a secure workholder. The metalworking guys can supply numbers and details; but you would want lower RPMS, a bit designed specifically for cutting aluminum, a secure workholder, and some kind of cooling at the workpiece/tool interface.
The safe solution would probably be to take the old splitter to a local machine shop and have 'em make you another 0.100" thick. That way you'd still have the old one; and you'd have a new one to use with the thin kerf blade.
Perfectly safe, after you write me into your will...
Paul,
forget it, use a file. Yesterday I made a few hundred cuts (using a 100 tooth aluminium cutting blade) and have a few more left to do. After I am finished cutting I will be cleaning the shop for the rest of the day, aluminium is everywhere, it looks surreal in there, like in a movie or something.
Anyway, use a file. Cutting aluminium is best done with a lubricant anyway, and with a router spinning at 6000 rpm minimum there's going to be a huge mess.
I don't have a problem routing aluminum, just with the operation he wants to do! I have used carbide router bits, and slow speed to route aluminum. Just the other day I used a 1/8" round over bit on some 1/4" aluminum plate. Used my PC 7539 on slow speed, 10,000 RPM with no problems. Chips are hot and fly all over! Safety glasses are definately required! Greg
FYI the recommended cutting speed for a 1/2" 2 flute end mill is 3000RPM, that is at a feed of 3"/min with a max depth of cut of 1/4". The problem with what the OP is sugesting is the method of holding the work.
Routing Aluminum itself isn't a problem, I did my own table insert out of
1/4" plate using a circle cutting attachment 1/4" bit and wd40 as a lubricant. Pat Warner (patwarner.com) has several references to routing Aluminum, his site is apparantly down at the moment.I agree with Greg, I cut al on my tablesaw, up to 2" thick, lubricate with wd40 and wear a full face shield because those chips are hot.
Bernard R
There is no such thing as a dumb question. The only dumb question is the one not asked.
Just belt sand it down to the rough thickness. It's only a slitter - doesn't have to be perfect
cutting aluminum on a table saw is one thing. shaving .025 off is something else entirely.
randy
I am talking personal experience but seeing as people like to see things in print I suggest DAGS 'aluminum routing' there are about 65,000 replies.
The problems that the OP had were probalbly using too large a bit and the method of holding down the work. If for example he had a way of screwing down the work with counter sunk screws and limited the bit to say 3/8" he wouldn't have had any problems. A 0.025" cut would be the proverbial knife through butter.
This reference
Bernard R
Agreed, that is why I would not do what he want to try. Routing aluminum is possible, what he wants to do is suicide! Greg
ya, little metal thing flying, bouncing, ouch!
i feel pretty confident with a file and a sanding block, and some money on it, and you let me get it mounted securely first, i could get .025 off that thing in less time than it would take to read every post in this thread, outloud and legibly.
randy
I don't know where you got your feed and speed info from but it is way low. Average book speed (generally low. a safe starting point) is 600 sfm. This comes out to 4583 RPM with a 1/2" HSS 2 flute endmill. At that RPM, minimum feed would be 9" per minute. I typically run them at 6000 RPM at 30 to 35" per minute feed. While there are circumstances that double sided tape can be used as a hold down in a milling operation, this isn't one of them.
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