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Thin Wall Machining

To mill thin walls in aluminum using fast light cuts, machine on alternating sides of the wall all the way down, jumping the wall with each new pass. This leaves the wall supported on both sides by unremoved stock close to where the tool is cutting. The video illustrates this.

When a pattern of thin walls makes up a series of pockets, machine the pockets incrementally.

video
video
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This video shows a basic example of thin wall machining. Note how cuts alternate from one side of the wall to the other. This leaves the wall supported from both sides throughout the cut. Machining conditions: 10,800 rpm, 236 ipm, 0.75 inch dia. tool, 0.2 inch depth of cut. Video courtesy Mazak.