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Aluminium Tubing/Bar


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Guess my question comes under the "anything else" heading but simply can anyone{probably a machinist] recommend what sort of aluminium tubing I should be purchasing to be able to machine to a better quality on a small lathe,,,,some of the bar and tubing I get from " E Bay" seems to rip or clog up easily regardless of sharp tools. Using up bits of offcut from already manufactured parts seems to machine beautifully so can some one point me in the right direction,,,,,thanks ,,,,O

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Free machining alloys such as 2011 T3 or similar are a delight to machine compared to say 6082 T6 however the right insert and lubricant helps a lot. A rough guide is the colour of the insert, avoid yellow as they have an affinity for aluminium and gum up quickly. I use DCGT11 04 Rad with AL10 coatings which help a lot, mine come from Germany however you can source them over here. When machining suppressors you need to consider the potential internal pressures, I will use either 6x or 7x soft metals and the material and construction is down to internal pressures.

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Are you using HSS tooling?

 

Ian.

Guess so? I,m no expert Ian I pretty much use various cutters that have the hard tip bonded to them which I sharpen on a grinding wheel.Its just that some of the tubing I get from E Bay tends appear softer and as I said in my original post it tends to not cut well and clogs up on the cutting tool??

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Guess so? I,m no expert Ian I pretty much use various cutters that have the hard tip bonded to them which I sharpen on a grinding wheel.Its just that some of the tubing I get from E Bay tends appear softer and as I said in my original post it tends to not cut well and clogs up on the cutting tool??

Sounds to me as if you are using brazed tip carbide tools, not ideal for aluminium alloys unless you can really get the speed and feeds up.

A correctly ground high speed steel tool bit with a bit more rake front and side then usual will be your best bet for all grades of aluminium alloys

 

Ian.

 

PS. Parafin is the best cutting lubricant for aluminium

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I used 6082 for the all the externals. Internals were all 304. Put about 1k through mine and it's not even budged! If your are going the aluminium route I would HIGHLY suggest anodising it to MIL spec or something similar, I ran it naked and would be lucky to get 50 shots through it before catastrophic failure.

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I use a diamond tool holder. Great little tool which is very easily sharpened with a a jig that comes with it. I use mine on aluminium, brass and stainless with very good results on finish.

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