I’m doing a lot of aluminum work and would like to keep the cut paths clear of debris. Would a fish tank pump work or do I need something stronger?
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I assume you mean an aerator pump. That would provide much too little pressure. The exhaust from a shop vac should work.
You’re right. I had an air aquarium pump in the attic; no real airflow to speak of. A shop vac would work but the noise is more than I wish to contend with. I was looking at that spindle driven vacuum that someone posted here. I could probably do something like that but mirror the impeller and have it blow down around the collet. Have to give it some thought. I wonder how many watts it would take to drive it. I have a 24v 775 motors and a small PS. Maybe I could print an impeller and shroud for it and mount it to the head.
Funny thing. I just looked next to my recliner and saw the little 5v air blower that I bought to clean my keyboard. It has plenty of power. Just have to adapt it to the CNC head.
John
Why blow it all over the place, why not suck and keep it all clean?
I bought a low power vacuum cleaner that also has an outlet, so any smells can be passed through and on outside or through a filter. I powered it via a voltage controller and can turn it down to make it no noisier than necessary. Contrary to other advice about running motors on lowered voltage, it works fine, and it doesn’t get warmer than normal.
Aluminum bits are more difficult to vacuum than wood dust. You’d need a really powerful vacuum to get the same amount of aluminum debris clearing as a blower.
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Right, plus it’s important to remove the chips from the cutting path or they will prematurely wear out your end mill. I’m going to get one of those segmented nozzles too, to pump the air directly into the cut path as I’m cutting 1/4" plate.
I don’t use my Snapmaker to cut aluminum, I use my CNC router. I cut up to .188" thick 6061. I use a 1/8" single flute solid carbide bit at 18,000 rpm, cooled and lubricated with “Tap Magic Aluminum Cutting Fluid”. Applied with a Imyyds Airbrush Kit with Compressor, 32 PSI High Pressure Cordless Airbrush Gun. The volume of coolant is so minimal that it does not require collection. Work Great. All available on Amazon.
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I get a mirror finisn edge.
I’ll have to check that out. I would like to avoid coolant if I can. Going to try the blower first. I ate a 4mm 3 flute bit this morning. there was just too much material in the groove that it coated the end mill during a 5 hour cut. thankfully it was almost finished before it wrapped out. I took apart the keyboard blower and verified it will run from a little 12 volt, 5 amp plugin power brick. I ordered some loc-line to direct the airflow. here’s the blower unit. I’ll have to draw and print something up to attach to the CNC head.
I wish you good luck with that. I’ve been milling aluminum successfully for years. To evacuate the chips, you must use only single-flute up-cut bits. If the coolant is applied with the airbrush, there is next to no residue remaining. Try these bits https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCK2VY63?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder_k0_1_49&=&crid=JQR37R7EKZQQ&sprefix=1%2F8%2Bcnc%2Brouter%2Bbit%2B1%2F8%2Bshank%2Bfor%2Bmilling%2Baluminum&th=1
Always use single-flute up-cut bits for aluminum.
I’ve been using Sharpro 4 mm and 6 mm, 3 flute end mills, cutting 1/4" 6061-T6 plate at a depth of .25 mm @ 150 mm/ min per pass. They work great and extract the chips well. The problem I have is that when doing long jobs, some of the chips will remain on the plate and get caught by the mill on a subsequent pass. My enclosure is not conducive to using cutting fluid so I must use a blower to make sure the deep grooves don’t collect chips.
In the past with other machines we had an air compressor. Maybe something like this: https://www.harborfreight.com/8-gallon-150-psi-oil-free-horizontal-shopauto-air-compressor-64294.html