New mini RGB build

[RGbee]

Wow RGB! You have me thinking..... Will 'er indoors let me buy any more laser parts?

Lol!.
Made some progress. Drilled and tapped the 6 M3 holes for red (diode block and both lenses)
Tonight i'll do the same for the blue, which just leaves the spacer plate for the green to mill. As soon as that's done i can mount the dichros then fab the casing

[andy_con]

still waiting for machining photos ;-)

[RGbee]

I'll take some tonight

[andy_con]

thanks boss .

[RGbee]

Milled a nice little block yesterday

[chad]

Eeeks! that makes me cringe.
First you want to have the end mill as close to the collet as possible, in other words it is sticking out too far. Try to figure out a better way to clamp your work. Second you need to be using some sort of lubricant on that. We have WD-40 here. It isn't the best lube but it is better than nothing.
Do not use motor oil. Just get something that you can squirt on while cutting.
Aluminium likes to stick to the bit. Once that happens it is all going to go down hill fast.

chad

[ArcDevilz]

Eeeks! that makes me cringe.
First you want to have the end mill as close to the collet as possible, in other words it is sticking out too far. Try to figure out a better way to clamp your work. Second you need to be using some sort of lubricant on that. We have WD-40 here. It isn't the best lube but it is better than nothing.
Do not use motor oil. Just get something that you can squirt on while cutting.
Aluminium likes to stick to the bit. Once that happens it is all going to go down hill fast.

chad

Don't forget also that you can develop chatter when your end mill is out that far. For cooling a little on a brush works well. Chad is right about aluminum gumming up your tools.

[chad]

The goal is smooth sound and cut. lube will help. if you can rig up some air to blow the chips out that would help too, you don't want to re-cut chips.
This is a good example of what can be done when things are well tuned. This is a 100k machine. But even your little machine can make some nice parts when setup right. With aluminum, spindle speed is your friend ( if you have some lube).
http://youtu.be/uswnasjwQsM


chad

[RGbee]

Interesting, i wasn't aware of the location of the end mill in the collet. The mill didn't come with any other instructions other than the ones detailing setting up the spindle and table. I'll check tonight, but i think that's as far as it will go in. Yeah, i usually use WD-40

[planters]

I know that chad has more experience than me, but I approach this a little differently. I am sure we both agree that you want the shortest, thickest (read stiffest) path between the collet and the cutting edge. If the tool will not insert any further (are you sure) then consider tools with shorter shanks. Where we differ is that even for aluminum and even when I am using carbide mills (much stiffer), I cut slowly and without lube. I will often set up a vacuum nozzle near the cut to remove chips and provide some cooling. I do not use a CNC and this means I am always there to listen for faint sounds of chatter that mean the tool is loading up or the cut is too aggressive. Without lube, the mess is enormously less and I can see the cut better in real time. I always make a first pass to remove the bulk and then a final pass to remove the last 5-10 thousandths. With steel, I have no choice and add cutting lube and with stainless steel I slow down even more and with copper then shallow cuts. There was a discussion elsewhere about the best lube for copper (milk?).