What other tools do you have available to you?

rstermer

 

Hello darren, You may want to use a belt sander. You need to be extra careful to protect yourself. The chips go everywhere . and are very hard on eyes. Be careful when you remove your cap, or comb your hair with eye protection. Once, you have the profile, you can get fine grit belt. Lastly, you can use a file to clean up the scratches. I don't use a router for that, The aluminum is very hard on bits, running at that speed, and the chips can take out your router. Good Luck!

 

darren,

I've done some research on routing aluminum. I've found one manufacturer of router bits designed for aluminum Solid Carbide Aluminum Router Bit by Amana Tool Router Bits but there's are all straight. I've searched and I've yet to find any other router bit manufacturer who mentions routing aluminum or other non-ferrous metals on their web site. The potential market is large enough that *I* believe that if it were safe, the manufacturers would tout it. I've also seen many articles advising against it.

I've seen people claim that they use their wood router bits (and regular blades in their table saw) to cut aluminum but the way *I* look at it, just because they haven't been injured yet doesn't protect them each time.

Some others here may disagree with me on this; if so, disagree away! As in the rest of life darren, only *you* can decide what's safe enough for you. I can only speak from my personal perspective.

Depending on value, you may want to talk to a custom bit manufacturer like http://www.nordicsaw.com/router_bits.html to see if they can make a good solution for you if other approaches fail.

 

if you sand it make sure you use a dustmask.. the aluminium is not healthy. longterm exposure can cause neurotoxicity and is a (debated) risk factor for alzheimers disease..

 

Thanks for the replies and advice folks, i think i,ll be better off doing it by hand as mentioned, i was looking for someone local to knock up a cheap cnc for this type of work
its not a precise item so i can live without for now.
and thanks dan im a bugger for not wearing a mask but i,ll certainly be wearing one when working with ally

 

I know this is an old thread but it seems to be the youngest on routing aluminum so here goes....

I've been doing some metal work using 6061 aluminum and have been making some aluminum cases. These cases are used to house audio amplifiers, preamplifiers, power supplies, etc.. To add some design to the faceplates of these cases, I've used a conventional chamfer bit in my table. By using the lowest possible speed and cutting fluid, I've had pretty good success. Feed rate is very important as the bit likes to dig in at some instances. Usually, I can file this blemish out but am looking for a better solution, one where I can edge treat the aluminum without the occasional marring to the edge. Is there something in the procedure or a proper material to use that would help in this regard?

I've attached a couple of pictures to show what I'm about.

BTW, I use an Amana non-ferrous blade for cutting to dimension and the blade is a treat. The TCG blade, made with carbide C4 results in a better cut that I can obtain using a shear.

 

Basically,any of our bits, HSS or carbide tipped, will do the job. The problem is speed and feed rate. Bits for machining metal are made from just the same materials, but when used in a metal working milling machine are run at just a few hundred rpm, not the thousands of rpm a router runs at.
You might get a result from one of the routers that will work with an external speed reducer to knock the revs down to around 300 or 400rpm. You'll also need a much slower feed rate than for wood. Ideally you also need some sort of coolant. Even spraying would be better than nothing, although you can't do that if the router is in a table because of liquid dripping into the router below. You'd still have more control of the job in a table though as a featherboard is essential.

HTH

Peter