Ignoramus30138 wrote:

On 2010-12-17, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
"Pete C." fired this volley in news:4d0be94a$0$9804
:

And remember, you *do not* need coolant for most machining operations in
aluminum.

But you need _lubrication_, or you get false edges built up on the tooling.

All the more reason to use a polymer for the backer instead of wood.

LLoyd

I have never succeeded machining aluminum without coolant. Broke a few
endmills.

i

I've never machined aluminum with coolant, and I've machined a lot of
aluminum and never had a problem. If I recall you were running with way
too low a feed rate at the time causing more rubbing than cutting, chip
welding, etc. I use high feed rates and moderately heavy cuts so I get
decent sized chips flying away.