TCT Router cutters in a mill running at 4000 RPM
Dear All,
I have TCT cutters designed for my router most run at between 8000 RPM to 24000RPM in a hand held or fixed router. What I would really like to know is ifanyone has successfully used such cutters in a mill to cut wood, my mill runsat 4000 RPM max. Any advice on this area would be very interesting to me.
If I try the cutters and have any luck I will try and post something about it.
Many thanks for any help
All the best
Suesi
Re: TCT Router cutters in a mill running at 4000 RPM
I get very poor results at those low speeds unless of course they are very large diameter cutters and hence have a high peripheral speed.
At those speeds they also tend to grab the wood and send it flying if you're not careful.
Re: TCT Router cutters in a mill running at 4000 RPM
Hi Eddy,
Thank you for the reply and info. I was pleased I had areply on this but it does not sound like a promising prospect using routercutters at a low speed. That is a shame!
All the best
Suesi
Re: TCT Router cutters in a mill running at 4000 RPM
One thing worth mentioning is you really shouldn't machine wood on metalworking machines, especially ones that aren't well sealed.
They really aren't designed to handle the inevitable sawdust which will work it's way in to places it shouldn't, and clog things up.
Re: TCT Router cutters in a mill running at 4000 RPM
Hi m_c
Tar very much for letting me know you shouldn't machine wood on a mill. Themanual says that you can machine wood on it but with what you have said I willnot do that the last thing I want is to damage my machine. I will go by whatyou say having read many of your posts. Thanks again you could have saved me alot of trouble.
All the best
Suesi
Re: TCT Router cutters in a mill running at 4000 RPM
I once cut plywood a wind turbine blade on my milling machine with a TCT router bit, long before I'd made the CNC router. Due to the potential problems from the dust I taped paper to the machine to stop the dust getting on the slides too much, then cleaned and oiled everything thoroughly afterwards. The chipload can be kept quite high - I used something like 0.2-0.3mm chipload at 2150rpm. I think it was a 1/2" cutter. The milling machine is obviously very strong compared to a router, so you can push it quite fast. Not something I would do remotely regularly though...
Re: TCT Router cutters in a mill running at 4000 RPM
You could always rig up a dust extractor which is mostly essential for wood, also a bigger cutter will help.
Re: TCT Router cutters in a mill running at 4000 RPM
Hi Jonathan,
Thank you for the info, I have thought of a way I could make a false table tocover most area from dust with the aid of extraction in mind. However, it doesnot sound all that successful running the TCT router cutters at a slow speed soI wonder if I am better just sticking with the normal materials for when itcomes to the mill. I do not want to cause issues at this stage as I am not upon CNC matters as it is just learning, well trying too!
I think they are your build logs at the bottom of your msg I look forward tohave a look at them for sure
All the best
Suesi
Re: TCT Router cutters in a mill running at 4000 RPM
Hi EddyCurrent,
Thank you for your help I thought about the extraction side of things but whatI am hearing is the cutters will not work all that well at slow speed anyway.It is a shame as I would like to have made a few little bits out of wood!
Many thanks
Suesi
Re: TCT Router cutters in a mill running at 4000 RPM
Quote:
Originally Posted by
EddyCurrent
You could always rig up a dust extractor which is mostly essential for wood, also a bigger cutter will help.
I stand there with my vac following the cutter.. no dust so far. Did try to make a boot but failed completely.. MDF's the worst I find, blow you nose and it looks like a miners ear !