How To Mill Inside Sheet Metal

These inserts are made of extremely resistant steels which have far higher hardnesses than the workpieces to be machined.

How to mill inside sheet metal. We build an operator control panel for our equipment that requires milling a pocket out of a sheet metal box for a joystick. The sheet should be supported in one hand whilst the other turns the handle thus drawing the sheet through the rollers. These cutters are used for cutoff operations and for milling deep narrow slots and are made in widths from 1 32 to 3 16 inch. I suppose the absence of coolant makes it a whole lot easier to secure but results in a poor finish.

The shear is manipulated. Help choosing best setup for milling pockets in sheet metal box. Metal slitting saw milling cutter. Put on ear defenders and ear protectors switch on and carefully plunge milling slightly into the aluminium.

The most trouble seems to come from trying to hold the workpiece as rigidly as possible. The sheet should be caught as it comes through and its thickness checked using a vernier calliper. It is ground slightly thinner toward the center to provide side clearance. π 180 x b x ir k x mt bend allowance ba where b is the angle complementary to your desired bend angle 1 to 180 degrees mt is the thickness of the material ir is the inside radius and k is the k factor.

I found that only a fraction of a millimeter could be milled at a time i listened to. The milling is carried out by tools that are fitted with indexable inserts. Normally sheetmetal is machined on a cnc punch and it s not too practical to mill it due to fixturing issues. The most practical hand tool for making more than a few limited cuts is the throatless beverly shear.

But i know many of you have done this successfully. Once the rollers are in the correct position the mill is ready to roll down the metal. The metal slitting saw milling cutter is essentially a very thin plain milling cutter. This tool is bench mounted and capable of cuts in most sheet metals.