Jon Elson wrote in
:

Ignoramus6705 wrote:
With this Bridgeport Interact CNC mill, I find myself doing things
that I have never done before, like milling deep pockets. So I have
new challenges. The current one is chip clearance. Say, I mill a deep
pocket. How do I get the chips out of there? On production VMCs, they
blast a stream of coolant into the work area at 200 PSI, and that sure
takes care of chip removal. But what can a poor fellow like me do?

With wax and such, I use a Shop-Vac. I am not sure if it would work
with steel as well, or even aluminum, due to greater density of
chips.

I haven't done deep pockets in a while, but did have to do some, once.
After a lot of screwing around, I found the best way was to drill 1/2"
holes just leaving a small bit of metal between each hole, removing as
much metal from the volume as possible. Then, I used a 3/4" end mill,
and bored straight down over each hole, making lots of noise but
clearing out most of the remaining scraps.

Flood coolant is sure a solution, air also will work. I'm not so sure
vacuum will do a whole lot, especially on steel, but it will remove
some, using the crevice tool to concentrate the flow. A horizontal
mill
is often used in such situations, the chips clear out better in that
position.

A Shop Vac with a small nozzle will suck up aluminum chips just fine
unless you are dealing with a very deep hole. Unlike compressed air,
there is little cleanup when you are done.

Doug White