guess what cutting tool made this cut

[dan s]

I just finished up in the shop, and I was surprised at how smooth this surface turned out. Take your best guess at what cutting tool produced this surface finish. For reference the part is 7075-T6 1.5" wide by 2" long.

[small.planes]

Shaper?

Dave

[macona]

cutting tool or machine?

Looks like a face mill with the head out of tram.

[Evan]

It's a shaper. There are slight parallel lines running the long direction of the part. Not a bad finish but much more can be done.

7075-T6 will produce mirror finishes with the right tooling. It's very hard, about 20% harder than mild steel. It's the one type of aluminum where the swarf cuts you.

Shapers can produce some interesting finishes.

Here are some examples on steel:

This first is the finish from a regular finish cut in mild steel.



Next we have some fancier finishes.

[.RC.]

Amazing finish on those parts Evan, how did you get them so white you cannot even see them on the screen???

[Evan]

Must be your new internet filter system in operation. They show up fine here.

[.RC.]

I cleared the cache but still nothing shows..The filter must have classified it as pr0n..

[Evan]

Try this. I made one change that might disclose how the filter works.

[japcas]

I'd say a slab mill on a horizontal milling machine.

[JCHannum]

Since Dan is the proud new owner of a US Machines vertical mill, I would guess that is what he used to produce that finish. A properly trammed vertical mill with a sharp cutter is quite capable of producing a very nice finish.

If I had to guess which specific cutter he used, I would go with either a fly cutter or face mill.