Found a weird trick to stop that annoying chatter on thin aluminum parts

I was running a batch of 6061 brackets, about 0.125" thick, and the finish was just awful with chatter. My lead was out, so I tried something dumb: I put a big glob of that blue layout fluid on the back of the part where it clamped to the fixture plate. It acted like a dampener and the chatter totally went away for the whole run. I know it's not textbook, but it saved the job. Anyone got a more proper fix they use for thin wall stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

coleman.jamie12d ago

That "big glob of blue layout fluid" trick is actually pretty smart for a quick fix. For a more proper setup, I've had good luck using thin strips of that soft jaw material, like UHMW, between the part and the fixture. It does the same dampening thing but it's a bit more controlled and less messy.

nathan_barnes12d ago

Yeah, the UHMW strip idea is solid for a repeatable process. I mean, you could even step it up by cutting those strips with a slight taper, so they wedge in and really lock the part down without needing crazy clamping force. It's all about killing that last little bit of chatter. The blue goo is great for a one-off in a pinch, but something you can just drop in the same spot every time saves a headache.