Hi Group, I just have a question. I want to cutout a family name out of 3/4" pine. I want to use the 1/8" flat compression cnc bit I bought from Sienci Labs. I am using vcarve pro. These are the setting for the tool in the database:
Using these settings, it takes 12 passes to cut through 3/4" pine which takes 31 minutes to cutout. Any suggestions on changing the settings to make LongMill MK2 cut faster without damaging the cnc bit. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Quick question. Are these letters only 3mm175 wide or are they wider and are you use a profile toolpath to cut them out?
If they are wider, and I am guessing they are, you might be able to use a pocketing toolpath using a 1/4 upcut bit as your main endmill and using the 1/8 cmp for the finishing pass. This way you run only 40% of your bit into the material, leaving room to have it cut deeper.
If you decrease your stepover, you can increase depth even more. This come with a coution though. The larger bit might leave more material in tight spots, leaving your smaller bit exposed to more material.
It’s a game of feeling. The best advise I can give is, start playing conservative - as you did, listen to your machine cutting.. increase feeds, watch and listen to the cutting. If you can increase feed feeling confidence it cuts smooth on your cam side, you can increase cutting depth on the cad side for your next project.
In my early days I just went ahead and played around in the settings without looking, smelling and listening. I broke pretty much every 1/8 endmill in my collection.
I now run 1mm endmills and have never broken any of those.
And sometimes.. you just need to accept the time it takes, if you are running bits that would leave you crying if you break them in an attempt to save some time.
@VinceC One thing to consider is that your pass depth is less than the upcut portion of that end mill. According to the Sienci site, the upcut portion is 3mm or roughly .125". Your cuts will be .06". So, using that bit with that pass depth, your top surface will be splintered. If you insist on using that bit, make sure your first pass gets the downcut portion of it into the wood. After that, you can set the passes how you like.
