Cutting Aluminium Composite panel / Longmill 12x30 / MK1

Hello!,

I am currently experimenting with Aluminium Composite panel on the Longmill.
Full thickness if 1/4"
2 sides of brushed Aluminium.

Did a test Cut with Carbide Create Aluminium Feeds & Speeds for 1/8 single Flute Aluminium (the one on the Sienci Web Store)

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It was slow… But the parts looks nice…

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This is a 3/4 “by 3/4” test piece.
For a 20"x12" Home address with Black HDPE Letters (HDPE already Cut! Just waiting for Backdrop)

The thing, is that since there is just about 1/16 of aluminium, maybe i should have used plastics Feed and Speeds.

How to i deal with the fact that this as 3 layers?

Should I manage different Passes for the different layers with specific parameters?

Since the Speed and Feed were for Aluminium, when the cut was over, the bit was covered with plastic bits.

It was cleaned up easy with no issues, but mostly confirms that these were not great parameters for the “Plastics” part of it.

Any ideas? recommendations?

Thanks!

@webbit_NJ FWIW, I’ve not cut that material, but I have cut both aluminum and acrylic. My feeds and speeds are more or less the same for both. I think your issue with the acrylic part of your cut is that you are running the router at too high a speed for the feed rate. I would try a test running your router slower and the feed rate a bit higher. If you are using gSender, you can change the speed on the fly, so it’s easy to find the sweet spot. I realize, though, that if your test file is cutting a square that is only 3/4" x 3/4", you don’t have much time to experiment. :grinning:

Thank @gwilki ,
I did try to double-up the feed Rate via GSender, but did not change the Router Speed.
Looking at the Router (Makita RT0701), i see it is still at position #3.5 (around 20K RPM (According to Sienci Docs)
How slow should i go? (Not much experience with Plastics)
Yes, the 3/4"x3/4" is fairly small, i also did a larger cut. (few inches across)
The cut looked ok, but Bit needed to be Cleaned/Plastic residue.

I Provided the 3/4"x3/4" photo because it looked so cute :slight_smile:

Should i do Multiple toolpaths/projects, or ignore the Aluminium in the equation since it is so thin?

Other experiments to come…

@webbit_NJ I would turn the makita router all the way down. If you are having to remove plastic from the bit, you are melting it. So, slow the speed down. Then play with feed rate.

I would not bother with separate toolpaths for the aluminum and plastic.