Question Material for milling - suggestions please

I'm currently practicing milling using MDF, to develop toolpaths to be employed later in a different material.

The qualities I'm looking for are, in order of precedence:

Mills cleanly to smooth surface and readily accepts drilling
Inexpensive
Available in sheets 0.25mm to 25mm thick
Strong, as inflexible as possible to bending, warpage
Accepts paint without loss when slightly bent

What would be the material that best possesses these qualities?

Hi huff

MIRACULIX
Is still working on the developpment of this Material.

Huff wrote:
Strong, as inflexible as possible to bending, warpage
Accepts paint without loss when slightly bent

Nice contradiction in terminea:whistle:
You want inflexible but still a little bending must be possible?

Inflexible materials are composite and multi ply wood.

Clean milling is done by using the right type of mills, speed and feeds.

But the best material is still in development so be patient like bvs wrote.

I was really asking about the material's readiness to make a good bond with suitable paints. Self evidently, as I was looking for material with thicknesses going down to .25 mm, some of it would bend fairly readily, but no, I am not looking at bending as being a desirable quality. Perhaps we could have some sensible suggestions about what sheet plastics are "millable" without difficulties - I gather acrylic can be a problem.

Huff,

All plastics and acrylic variations are hard to mill because they are all sensitive for heat and will melt and stick to the mill bit and create a great risk for breaking the bit.
Milling produces heat to the surface of the material so key is to cool the material either by air or liquid. An other thing is to use a single or max a two flute end-mill and relatively slow spindle speed and medium feed rate. (mostly trial and error before you find your desired setting).

Hi, it is impossible to inform you of which material to use for milling 0.25 to 25mm.
It all depends on what job you are undertaking. That will suggest itself what you require.
Then you make adjustments to speed feeds and cutters, which in turn are governed broadly by the stepcraft machines capabilities.

Okay thanks. I'm making a pair of 1/4 scale turrets for an RC model, so I've quite a range of things to make, from (roughly) 6mm shafts , to sheets of circa 1mm thickeness sandwiching a perforated core (for lightness and strength). Were weight not a consideration, I'd be making it in aluminium, so I'm looking at various lighter materials dependant on what strength is required. I've been out of model-making for some years and was hoping there were some new materials - other than carbon-fibre - around which were both light, strong and "millable".

I don't wish to start milling CF for obvious reasons.

Cheers, for taking to the time to reply.