Machining aluminum alloys for aerospace, electronics, computers, and other applications presents a number of challenges for CNC machine shops. If you’re considering expanding your capabilities to include making aluminum alloy parts, here are a number of important factors to consider:
- VMC or HMC? If your shop relies heavily on Vertical MachiningCenters, you may wish to consider adding a Horizontal Machining Center for aluminum alloy production. HMCs provide superior chip control, automatic pallet indexing and rotation (B axis) as part of their basic design.
- Thermal Stability. Aluminum alloys are more susceptible to temperature variations. Therefore a machine tool designed both structurally and through sophisticated compensation software for optimum thermal stability will enable you to hold tolerances more precisely.
- Spindle Horsepower. Although aluminum is freer cutting than harder materials, it still requires a substantial amount of horsepower, especially with aggressive speeds and feed rates. The spindle should be capable of 12,000 RPM speeds with a sufficient horsepower rating for your applications.
- Through Spindle and Flood Coolant. For optimum efficiency machining aluminum alloys you should have the ability to apply high-pressure coolant at 1000 psi during many machining operations, and be able to flush chips away from the cutting zone.
- Chip Conveyor. Aluminum chips can create a bottleneck to your workflow. You’ll need a chip conveyor designed to keep these lightweight chips moving out of the machine tool and into a discharge station.
- CNC Control. Machining complex shapes in aluminum alloys requires a sophisticated control system that enables you to program multiple axes, interface with multiple CAD/CAM software, and much more.
- Resources. There are a number of other factors to consider when machining aluminum alloys, including tooling, in-process or post-process inspection, and loading and unloading parts. Your Torrance Haas Factory Outlet has all the answers. Call (310) 381-0750, email: jphillips@haasfactoryoutlet.com, or visit www.haasfactoryoutlet.com.