CAMaster Stinger II rack and pinion when cutting aluminum

[Cary Falk]

Thanks for the feedback Cary. What sort of things have you cut in aluminum? And what's the deepest you've cut?

I have cut some 1/4" plate. The thickest piece was a pommel and guard for a viking sword which was about 1" thick. I cut the pocket for the blade with an 1/8" end mill. My cuts are always very shallow and the feed slow but I haven't broken a bit yet. I haven't mastered chip loads yet. It always seems like a break a bit when I go by them so I go much shallower and slower that calculated.

[Wes Grass]

Gummy aluminum? Sounds like 5052 ... meant for fabrication, bending, welding. Sucks to *machine* ...

Common for sheet stock, for the bending/welding purpose. 6061 not unavailable... just harder to source ... tends to crack while bending... better across the grain ...

But any of them would like at least a bit of spray mist lube ... even on a Bridgeport... which runs at about 1/6 to 1/3 the RPM you need to run on a router motor ...

A typical CNC router... table of MDF... gonna be a swollen mess of garbage to throw away.

Phenolic likely much better ... no experience... but I'd guess a bigger hassle to anchor parts with drywall screws ...

They DO break at some point.

I have ... or have seen (more likely) bed clamps that tighten 'down', but wedge for location as well.

Screws thru into the table for hold 'down' ... probably good enough in terms of friction to keep the piece(s) in place while machining. Assuming a puny 1/4" endmill ...

[Mel Fulks]

Denatured alcohol sprayed on to “ Alyouminium” stops the gummyness and make for easy cutting.

[Mick Simon]

What sort of things have you cut in aluminum? And what's the deepest you've cut?

I was once asked to test maximum feeds and speeds for cutting 1.25" aircraft aluminum for a commercial aircraft seat frame manufacturer. They shipped us four 5 x 8 x 1.25 sheets of aluminum. I worked closely with the tooling manufacturers to get their input on chiploads, techniques, etc. I was able to achieve a ⅜" depth of cut per pass at 225 inches per minute using an Onsrud Cutter ⅜" aluminum cutting bit. It took a lot of different approaches to dial it in, such as creating a wider relief channel. As we got deeper and deeper the chips tended to load up in the kerf. We eventually abandoned the testing because of the build up and other factors.
That was 20+ years ago and I still have scars from smoking hot chips hitting me.

[Craig Day]

I officially signed the quote and put down a deposit on my Stinger III the other day... excited to receive the machine and get started!

[Jim Becker]

Congrats! And now your CNC pregnancy begins.

[Michael Burnside]

Nice. You’ll have to post pics when it comes. Also, download Vcarve Pro and take it for a test drive and create some test projects!

[Craig Day]

Nice. You’ll have to post pics when it comes. Also, download Vcarve Pro and take it for a test drive and create some test projects!

This was a great suggestion. I was waiting for the full license key from CAMaster... didn't occur to me to download the trial and get started while I wait!

[Jim Becker]

This was a great suggestion. I was waiting for the full license key from CAMaster... didn't occur to me to download the trial and get started while I wait!

Camaster will also give you your software key before the machine is built and shipped if you talk with them nicely. The benefit of that is anything you create while learning will be useable to cut once you have your new toy.

[Jerome Stanek]

Camaster will also give you your software key before the machine is built and shipped if you talk with them nicely. The benefit of that is anything you create while learning will be useable to cut once you have your new toy.

I don't know if Vectric still does this but if you use the trial version then buy the full version you can use those files but both have to be on the same computer.

[Jim Becker]

I don't know if Vectric still does this but if you use the trial version then buy the full version you can use those files but both have to be on the same computer.

I've heard that, but never tried it since Camaster released my software key (which is how it was done in 2018) right after I made my machine order. Software authorization is all online now, so getting "the code" from the purchase should allow one to license the downloaded software, I would think.

[Valdo Konoff]

Last summer I asked Camaster after placing the order and got the key very next day.

[Craig Day]

Camaster will also give you your software key before the machine is built and shipped if you talk with them nicely. The benefit of that is anything you create while learning will be useable to cut once you have your new toy.

I got my full license today! Off to the races :-)