BTW, when I straight plunge into aluminium I go slow, 75-150mm/min. Any faster and I use a different tool strategy (helix/ramp).
I recently got some bits designed for aluminum cutting, and was surprised how much smoother they cut. Most of the chattering went away, and I no longer use WD40 to lube. Aluminum bits
I also always use the tape/superglue method of clamping.
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do you use any lube?
I use denatured alcohol when carving aluminum in combination with air (mister)
You can manually add alcohol to the carved piece using a syringe etc in a pinch.
Alcohol fully evaporate while WD40 leave behind oil residue.
Your RPMs seem really high and you’re probably getting some burning/heating of the bit because of it.
When I cut aluminum on the Dewalt, it was always speed 1 which is about 16k rpm. 2 flute bit at the manufacturers recommended feed rate (48 ipm).
My bit manufacturer for copper suggests about 13.7k RPM at like 35-40 ipm for a 2 flute 30 deg helix carbide cutter.
No
Another 3 hours of my life wasted and another lump of scrap aluminium.
I’ve gone from cutting out sheet metal copper to cutting a block of aluminium to produce this
After 2 hours of tedium nursing it through the main cut to produce the flanges, it screwed up cutting the main profile. X-Carves really aren’t up to it.
I know bad workmen always blame their tools but in this case I think the X-Carve can take most of the blame. It’s not rigid enough to cut metal. It’s just not man enough for the job.