On Jul 8, 11:40*am, "Bob La Londe" wrote:
I need to figure out a way to punch out shapes from .025 aluminum sheet.
I've got the little taig mill of course, but I'm thinking it will be
incredibley slow, and if the project works I'll want to punch a lot of them.
The shape is roughly triangular with an outside shear length of
approximately 6 inches.

I also considered the idea of making some kind of punch that I could use in
my press, but I haven't any idea how to start or what material to use for
the punch itself. *Also, I am thinking something as slow as a hydraulic
press is going to tear and distort the metal rather than punch it out. *I
made a couple of custom punches out of some stainless rod stock for another
project a while back and even for paper they only lasted a very short time.

Going back to the idea of using the mill. *What do you think is the most
aggressive cut and cutter I could use? *The spindle RPM maxes at 10,000 and
my max IPM is about 30 for rapids, but with any force for feeding is 20. *I
have a couple details on the cut that could double as holding tabs and be
cut as a seperate operation.

Stack up a bunch of blanks and chew them all out at once. Could also
do the same and use a pin router with a template on top or bottom.
Usually uses handfeeding against the guide pin. Quite common to use
wood-cutting router bits on aluminum, too.

Stan