Thread: Cutting aluminium sheet

Just to clarify its my understanding that G wizard comes in two versions. The first is G Wizard which is like the proffesional version and the second is for hobbyists called G wizard lite. When you pay $69 you get a 12 month subscription to G wizard which after 12 months reverts to g wizard lite for continued use afterwards.

OK, that is a bit better. But then compare that with Mach3.
They are still supplying updates for a program that they sold about 5 years ago.
When they bring out the next version (which is promised quite soon) I will buy that again as I do think that they give fantastic value for the money. Unlike this program from GWizard that includes ??? What in the updates that makes it worth an extra $69 a year?

And I reiterate. others supply the same information for free.

I hear what you're saying Bob. I am curious though as a lot of people seem to like it. I'll probably have a look once I get my mill running.

Originally Posted by SawDustSniffer

i bought one of these mist coolers a while back , and today gaffer taped it to my machine , well worth it you want to cut aluminium

the unit will pull its own water ( no pump ) and uses bugger all air , the compressor i bought for my set up was a small " Stanly " 350watt , from the big green shed , a needle tap is handy so you you have control over the water , with out having to adjust the knob on the unit , also a regulator for the air pressure is needed

ebay links
mist spray unit BIJUR SPRAY JET MIST NOZZLE B101 BRIDGEPORT CNC MILL | eBay

hoses COOLANT LINE SET BIJUR SPRAY MIST BRIDGEPORT BOSS CNC | eBay

spare tips BIJUR B136 SPRAY JET MIST NOZZLE TIP BRIDGEPORT CNC | eBay

you dont need much water / coolant , and i use rags to catch the excess water , and just ring them out every 20 min
you can turn off the water , and use it to blow saw dust away from the cutter when cutting timber aswell

Hi Ken

I have just got this set of bits pieces and now I need to set it all up. Can you tell me a little about it all please?

There is a valve on the top of the aluminium block, do you know what this controls, is it air or coolant?

Thanks
Bob

Originally Posted by Bob Willson

Hi Ken

I have just got this set of bits pieces and now I need to set it all up. Can you tell me a little about it all please?

There is a valve on the top of the aluminium block, do you know what this controls, is it air or coolant?

Thanks
Bob

more flow control ,if you turn it up you use more air and more coolant

it controls the air ,

i have a regulator on my compressor set to 80psi ,( a 75/ 25% run time for the mini compressor ) and have a tap ( needle valve ) to control coolant flow ,and leave the adjustment on the spray unit set the same all the time , you will be amazed at how little water you need to cool the tip in aluminium
dont use it as a hose ,

mine "pulls" its water from my spindle coolant tank ,up 3feet ,across 2 feet then down with out a problem , you do need to bleed it when you start ,run it for a 1min before you start your spindle
every 20min mop up the water sitting on the job with rags

i saw some where that if you have your water tank higher than the mist nozzle ,it will siphon all the water out of the tank when not running ,so your water has to be below the machine level ,but it will pull its water really well once the air is flowing

Thanks ken

I won't actually be using water; I am going to use Methylated spirits. When that lands on the MDF it doesn't seem to do it any harm. I suppose that time will tell.

I think I may mount a small container on the side of the gantry to hold the coolant, that way I will only need to worry about the air supply to the head. I will buy a needle valve tomorrow for the top of the misting assembly.

Bob,
Aren't you worried about fumigating yourself or explosion in a closed shed. I have a good recipe for metho boot polish and an orange.

Originally Posted by rodm

Bob,
Aren't you worried about fumigating yourself or explosion in a closed shed. I have a good recipe for metho boot polish and an orange.

The recipe was a new one on me. I might give it a miss though.

Why would I worry about an explosion. If the shed goes up I'll never know about it. Pity about the poor beggars who will have to wipe up though.

I had a little difficulty getting the correct connectors for this as the threads didn't seem to be standard. However, according to the Versitech people they are standard NTP fittings as follows:

Fittings:
The line set and fittings are for the Bijur Spraymist Tank to Nozzle connections.
Tank Side - The larger of the two is 1/4" NTP (inch, national taper pipe thread) and the small one is 1/8" NTP.
Nozzle Side - The small line compression fitting is a bijur part, and the large tube line is 1/8" NTP

yer the bits were hard to find ,my local Miter10 ( rural shop ) , had a few " Barbs " in his " junk trays" , where he has salvaged all sorts of parts and bunged them together into a wall you can sort through , then he makes up a price on how much he likes you free but i made him a " pen " once https://www.woodworkforums.com/f69/ri...-driver-89738/

he said the small one was off a chain saw carburetor , i did recommend the hoses the same bloke sells ,but never bought my self

I am happy to report that the problems with cutting the aluminium sheet seem to have been solved.
I am upstairs typing this while the machine is running downstairs cutting out a 90 minute job for me. This is the first day that I have been game to leave it playing on its own.

Using a 6mm low helix (or is that high?) the feed rate is set to 600mm/min and the revs at 12000. At this speed I seem to able to take a cut of 0.25mm which is a little on the small side but has the advantage of not galling up the cutter.

I am using the Bijur attachment that Ken told us about and I have a bottle of meths riding on a special little seat that I made to go on the side of the gantry. The only real problem with the spray is setting it at a low enough volume so that it doesn't use up a litre a minute. If the meths volume is set to low then it just doesn't seem to want to flow at all.

So thanks everyone for your suggestions, almost all of which I tried. The only thing that would make it even better now would be if I could take either bigger cuts or run faster. Not really wanting to experiment right now, what with it working properly and all.

Bob
Is that a single flute cutter?
I would try it at 2 or 3 mm depth, be there till xmas at .25
A bit hard to remember the settings we used before but never such a shallow cut. If i recall correctly we went about twice as fast as that with a 1/4" 2 flute with that sort of rpm
1 liter a min of metho sounds like a lot. We used a mistter off compressed air much like what has been discussed here b4. More of a very fine stream than a mist.
Lots more playing u will sort it

No, it is a 3 flute job, specially for aluminium type. But 2 or 3 mm at a time? Surely you jest with me. I've only just got it work at these settings. My head aches. maybe I'd better stop breathing in the metho.

Yes, a litre a minute would be A LOT. What I said was that I was trying to not use that amount. I do get a sort of a mist, maybe I should up the PSI? But then again, I'm throttling most of it away anyway.

i would think a 3 flute at those speeds u would be getting a bloody fine chip
A 3 flute will block with chips a lot easier than a 1 flute. I would try slowing the spindle down quite a bit.
We used to cut 6mm in 2 or 3 passes depending on the size of the parts being cut. Little parts would stay in the sheet nicely with a 2mm cut. Even on the light weight engravers would cut 2 mm a pass and they only had an 80 watt spindle motor i think but then would usually use a 2 or 3mm diameter halved parralell cutter.
10 mm thick would up the spindle speed and do it in 2 passes but never 3 flutes they block too easily.
Maybe some of the others here are more accustomed to what these sort of machines are happy with