Bridgeport Rehab - or How To Lose Your Wife In 10 Days

[jmiller]

Need some advise on this.

The left half of this cut is conventional milling and the surface finish is not great.
The right half is climb milled and beautiful.
Both .030 depth with same feed and speed. Whats going on?

Aluminum 6061. No fluids.

Im pretty sure I have my terms right. Climb milling as if the cutter was climbing the work piece or rolling across it like a tire would a road. Conventional as if it was scooping material out in front of it.

I tried both cuts twice with the same result before I made this example and even slowed my hand feed down to see if that affected anything.

 

[woodchucker]

@jmiller You know you could make soft jaws out of Aluminum. They'll do the job and can really get you going quickly.
You can even mill parallels right into the jaws..

 

[woodchucker]

Need some advise on this.
View attachment 458270
The left half of this cut is conventional milling and the surface finish is not great.
The right half is climb milled and beautiful.
Both .030 depth with same feed and speed. Whats going on?

Aluminum 6061. No fluids.

Im pretty sure I have my terms right. Climb milling as if the cutter was climbing the work piece or rolling across it like a tire would a road. Conventional as if it was scooping material out in front of it.

I tried both cuts twice with the same result before I made this example and even slowed my hand feed down to see if that affected anything.

Climb will leave a nicer finish. Don't mill Aluminum with out fluid, either tapmagic aluminum, wd40, coolant , mist coolant..
chip welding with aluminum is super high. So any finish is improved with any cutting fluid of any type.

edit: also the finish either way conventional or climb will improve on AL with fluid.

 

[jmiller]

Climb will leave a nicer finish. Don't mill Aluminum with out fluid, either tapmagic aluminum, wd40, coolant , mist coolant..
chip welding with aluminum is super high. So any finish is improved with any cutting fluid of any type.

edit: also the finish either way conventional or climb will improve on AL with fluid.

You are a legend and a gentleman sir, wd40 made all the difference.

 

[woodchucker]

You are a legend and a gentleman sir, wd40 made all the difference.

certainly not a legend, there are so many machinist here that are way better than me.

 

[Rex Walters]

Climb will leave a nicer finish. Don't mill Aluminum with out fluid, either tapmagic aluminum, wd40, coolant , mist coolant..
chip welding with aluminum is super high. So any finish is improved with any cutting fluid of any type.

edit: also the finish either way conventional or climb will improve on AL with fluid.

.030” x .750” (estimating from photo) is also hogging a fair bit of metal removal for a finish pass.

Isopropyl alcohol also works as cutting fluid for aluminum. Less messy than WD40, though that’s mostly what I use.

Once you have cold welded material on the edge of a cutter it’s a PITA to remove. Personally, I hate cutting aluminum for that reason.

 

[sturgeondaddy74]

Out of curiosity, where did you source your control box?

 

[jmiller]

Out of curiosity, where did you source your control box?

I built the control panel myself. If your referring to the enclosure that was on amazon.

Zulkit Junction Box ABS Plastic Dustproof Waterproof IP65 Universal Electrical Boxes Project Enclosure with Fixed Ear Black 7.87 x 4.72 x 2.95 Inch (200 x 120 x 75 mm)(Pack of 1) https://a.co/d/gaXt2vv

 

[sturgeondaddy74]

Loved you write up by the way. I have an old Bridgeport really similar to yours that I'm getting ready to disassemble and freshen up. I'm going to make a point to take a lot of pics.

 

[Rex Walters]

The usually recommendations for control wiring is 18-22AWG shielded cable with stranded, not solid wires.

[Revisiting an old post.]

I'm not an expert by any means, just hoping to learn something.

I'm genuinely curious: why is stranded wire called out specifically? Also, why wouldn't you use conduit for the run between the control box and the VFD on a vertical mill?

My understanding is that stranded wire can carry more current and is more flexible than solid wire, but the current needs for control signals should be minuscule, and it seems like you would want the cable mechanically restrained for this application, regardless. Is flexibility important for what's presumably a short installation run? Is there some other advantage to stranded wire?

With hot chips and cutting fluids flying everywhere around a mill, it also seems like the more physical protection you can provide the cables the better for this application. Though plastic cable sheathing probably suffices, is there any reason not to use conduit? I note that the photo shows what looks like a conduit fitting at the bottom of the switch box, fwiw.

Crimped ferrules or ring/spade lugs definitely seem like the way to go. It makes makes things neat and professional, and actually makes it easier to wire up. But it seems like solid vs. stranded for control signals wouldn't matter much as long as the control panel is mechanically bolted down and not on a swing arm or something. Since the box contains an EPO button, I'd think it best to soundly affix it to something that won't move and is always in the same place — a swing arm seems like a bad idea — so I would expect the wiring to remain stationary, too.

Just curious if I'm missing something.