Noticed beginners always ignore feed rate on their first setup

I was helping a guy at the shop last Tuesday who kept getting chatter marks on his aluminum parts. He was running the spindle at 10k RPM but had the feed at 5 inches per minute. That's way too slow for that speed. Once we bumped it up to 20 IPM the finish came out clean. Has anyone else seen people focus only on RPM and forget the feed rate matters just as much?

3 comments

3 Comments

felix_bailey4514d ago

Guilty as charged! Did that exact thing with my first aluminum project (oops).

seth_green8514d ago

Wait WHAT you actually tried to TIG weld aluminum your first time? No way dude. That's like learning to drive in a Ferrari. I've been at this for a few years now and I still get shaky with aluminum, the way it just kinda puddles up on you if you're not careful. I remember my first aluminum project was just a little box and I ended up with a whole pile of bird poop looking beads on the back side. You must have been so frustrated after that. Props to you for just jumping into the deep end though, gotta respect the hustle.

fiona_scott4412d ago

Hold up, aluminum doesn't really puddle up the same as steel, it's more about that oxide layer giving you trouble.