Questions on using a moving gantry style mini-mill...

[Davek0974]

Yep, already on that ;)

I just revisited the original plans for the part with the notch in it and it appears it's non-critical so I have altered it from 4mm wide and square to 5.1mm wide and half-round so the roughing tool will rip out most of it and I can try the 2.5mm DOC on the finish pass again - the 0.6mm cuts were where most of the time was eaten.

While it was running today I was also making other stuff so the time taken is not critical to a tight degree, once I get going I can finish one set of parts while the next is running - there are holes to drill and tap etc. Demand is not massive for these but crucially it means I don't have to send them out for laser cutting anymore.

I can also move another part I make from the plasma cutter to the mill as the quality is higher and finishing/clean-up time would be far less as plasma leaves a very rough edge on aluminium.

Just need to sort out a better bucket for the cooling water, possibly some sort chip management, and some better cutting fluid.

I might also try some low-speed tests just to see how low she can go.