Milling SS Sheet

[Mosey]

How do I mill some 1/8" - 1/4" slots through 0.036" #304 Stainless sheet. I want nice crisp edges. I will hold it down with tape or a sacrificial aluminum cover plate, and am concerned with rough edges, or other sloppy work. High spindle speed, low feed, downward spiral mill, coating, ??? Carbide? HSS?
Overall part size is 2"

 

[kjk]

My suggestion would be to make a sandwich of the part material with, for example, some 1/8 in aluminum as the "bread". Getting solid support right to the edges of the slot should go a long way toward a crisp edge.

 

[terrywerm]

I once had to do the exact same thing. A metal "sandwich" was made, using what I had readily available, which happened to be some 1/4" thick pieces of steel. It worked great. I suspect that aluminum would work well also. The hardest part was getting the slots in just the right places since I could not see the SS sheet, but that was taken care of by lining up the three pieces on two sides, then working from the corner.