3D Milling Aluminum... almost

The only reason chips weld onto an endmill is because of poor chip clearing, or too deep of a DOC. With a constant air blast on the cutting area to clear the chips, you will get a much nicer finish, too. Coolant (WD-40, etc) is not always necessary, but when you have a constant air blast it gets much easier to spray a drop or 2 in the tool’s path just to get things coated. There are a few threads around here that discuss cutting aluminum such as; Production level aluminum milling with .8KW water cooled VFD

Also, it looks like that end mill is TiAlN or AlTiN coated. Stay away from this coating at all costs. The “Al” in those coatings is aluminum, and aluminum likes to stick to aluminum in high heat, so you are much more likely to clog the cutter up. When you are comfortable with your speeds/feeds, check out ZrN coated endmills (with a high helix) or Destiny Viper “Stealth” EMs. They cut aluminum like butter, are quieter, and leave a significantly better finish.

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