Newbie looking at 6040 (China CNC) for polypropylene 15mm sheet

[JOGARA]

For coolant, unless you can get good flood coolant, the next best option is air with a bit lubricant.

The key thing with nearly all machining, is to get chips away from the cutter. Getting chips away is even more critical with aluminium, as it can be very prone to chips welding to the cutter, which is never good and often fatal for the part, cutter of both.

I managed for a good few months machining aluminium with just WD40 and compressed air. I'd set the machine running, spray a bit WD40 on, hit cycle start, then wander back every couple minutes and blow chips of the part, and a little bit extra WD40 if it looked like things were getting too dry. I only used enough WD40 to give a light coating on the part/cutter to help stop chips sticking. If I knew there was a critical cut coming up I.e. spiral in, or deep slot, I'd stay and hold the air on the cutter to ensure no chips built up, and add in a bit extra WD40.
The WD40 does make the chips clump together more and a bit harder to blow away, but the trade off was they were less likely to weld to things.

I eventually made a mister, which removed the need for as much babysitting, but it would still need a bit extra assistance in deeper parts.

My current system is one of those cheap bendy hoses with air and "mist".
I have pretty decent air going through it with a tiny amount of regular water and have not had any chip welds.

Probably could do with some sort of coolant fluid or additive in the water though to assist.

Please also send me the fixed files (ie Step or Iges from Fusion or the raw F3D) so that I can look at how long it will take the machine these. Can give my 2p worth as well. Free to use / not use the info.

Ill leave this public for now, will take down at a later date http://a360.co/2zPSUYP

Thanks

[m_c]

My current system is one of those cheap bendy hoses with air and "mist".
I have pretty decent air going through it with a tiny amount of regular water and have not had any chip welds.

Probably could do with some sort of coolant fluid or additive in the water though to assist.

Is the air flow enough to blow the chips well out the way?
Provided it's keeping chips well away from the cutter, then your setup should be fine. Even if you have to give an extra blast occasionally, it sounds like you've got a reasonable setup, and I wouldn't worry.

It might be worth trying some of the misting fluids though. This is what I used to use - http://www.johnnealeltd.co.uk/shopenvirocutse10.html

[JOGARA]

Is the air flow enough to blow the chips well out the way?
Provided it's keeping chips well away from the cutter, then your setup should be fine. Even if you have to give an extra blast occasionally, it sounds like you've got a reasonable setup, and I wouldn't worry.

It might be worth trying some of the misting fluids though. This is what I used to use - http://www.johnnealeltd.co.uk/shopenvirocutse10.html

Yea the chips fly miles. I found tiny amounts of water and decent air meant that 99% of the chips left my stock area.
The ones left tend to stick along the walls of my part. Not a massive problem as I then go around with my finishing path and I do that dry (only taking off 0.25mm) and that clears whatever is left from me brushing away the majority of leftovers.

That Envirocut SE10 looks good. I like that it is biodegradable. I am using a tiny amount of coolant as it is so 1L should do me for a while?

[JOGARA]

Just tested the machine with 1mm DOC at 6000 RPM and it was fine.
Pushed the machine with a face operation of 100% WOC and only when at 720mm feed it made a bit of noise.

So going to try it on part. Obviously not 100% width.

Will quickly try a couple helix with the new speed and faster plunge.