Question Milling old aluminum pan

Hi.
I need a small aluminum plate for my guitar project.
I've recovered a old scratched aluminum pan that can be candidate for this job.
My idea is to hand cut the bottom, removing the non-sticky coat and mill with cnc the shape of the plate.

This can be done?
Any issue using this aluminum.
Things that I take care during milling? (type of mill bit, coolant, etc.)?

Until now I've milled only wood, it's my first experience with aluminum.

Thank's in advance.

Michele

Hi Michele,

never milled Aluminium as you but ordered some end mills 2mm. Here you'll find some parameters (Metalle):

Metalle

Ok, some words are in German but I think it's understandable and the rest does Google Translator I hope.

I will try cooling with a little bit water and ethyl alcohol (spirit). Here's also a discussion in German but some videos showing ALu milling: ALu Video

Regards

Hartmut

Aluminium is not Aluminium. There are alloys which can be cut easily and there are alloys which can be cut badly.
So, without knowing which aluminium it is, we can't tell you wheather it will work or not.

Is the aluminium anodized? Most times the alloy which can be anodized good is worse for cutting. Maybe it is a good idea trying to drill a hole before you give milling a try?

This is a kind of answer I was waiting for
I have no idea what kind of aluminium is.
I tried to scratch with a file and it seems quite soft (with a single pass of rough file, I removed almost a millimeter), so I'm confident that will not damage the cutter.

As I wrote, my idea is to remove the non sticky coat with sand paper, so as to reach the underlying layer.

pattarom wrote: ...
I tried to scratch with a file and it seems quite soft (with a single pass of rough file, I removed almost a millimeter),...

That seems like a bad sign. Quick google search showed 3000 series (like 3004) for frying pans. Looks like it is good for forming that should indicate it is bad for milling. I might be wrong, so if you do try it, it would be interesting to read about your result.

Indeed ... if aluminium is too soft, it is also hard to cut. Problem is that the material "bends" around the cutting edge and sticks there. That's why my proposal was to try drilling. That's closer to milling.

Alu thats easy to cut can be cut with a 2 flute endmill. But for such a soft aluminium you should not even try this, use a 1 flute endmill instead.

Good luck!

Im cutting 1050alu here which i believe is 99% pure aluminium and is soft for machining.
It turned out good using lots of WD40 and two flute endmill.