Hey folks, thought you’d appreciate this:
I do a decent amount of aluminum machining on the Benchtop Pro, and I had to make a neat video for our website and I thought you’d all enjoy this one.
Design and toolpathing was all done in Fusion 360
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Eric,
I’ve toyed with the idea of aluminum but have kind of avoided it because of the mess. That and also I’ve wondered wow much of a difference in speed/accuracy/etc would I see being machine aluminum on a benchtop pro like this one and my full size EX Servo machine?
This was a mess but only because I was filming. When I am not filming I just run the dust boot and my dust collector and there are zero chips leftover.
As far as comparing the Benchtop to the Pro… I have both and I have done aluminum on both.
The BTP is just better, mainly because it’s all ballscrew, but also because I have the correct fixturing on it (aluminum T slot table, vices, etc)
On the Pro I’ve done aluminum before and you can totally do it. Typically what I have done there is larger sheets where I am just cutting holes and profile shapes. If you cut light and fast it will work just fine.
The Pro is less ideal really because I usually don’t have the right fixturing on it, and I end up just screwing aluminum down to the wood spoilboard… It’s also a larger more flexible machine than the BTP.
On either machine coolant is super helpful. I like IPA mist because it’s not messy, and it won’t destroy your spoilboard if you go that route.
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I would be interested in machining some aluminum can you do a deep dive on your misting system? An would you still use it with your dust collector an boot on?
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Right now I am running an SST Lube Cube:
It’s really well made.
I also have used the cheap-o ones from Amazon:
They both work fine. The SST one is way nicer though.
I have no issues using this with my dust collector. I suspect that the alcohol is all but evaporated by the time it gets through my dust system anyway.
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I recently bought the SST Lube Cube. Great product, like most things from SST.
Note that they do NOT recommend use of isopropanol in the stock (clear) polycarbonate container. They offer a black polypropylene container as the alternative for IPA use. That’s what I bought. Only downside is you can’t see what’s in there, but that’s not a big deal.
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I ran into that same thing, I may have been the one that pointed out to them that their containers didn’t work.
I ended up sourcing a different container that worked OK for me.
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