TCT Router cutters in a mill running at 4000 RPM

[suesi34e]

Hi Fivetide,

Thank you for your post. Are you machining wood if so at what speed and are you using tct cutters?

Many thanks

Suesi

[Fivetide]

Hi Suesi, I tend to use whatever settings are recomended in my tool path software. They have far more experience at that sort of thing than me. Im Lucky as my spindle will hit 50k rpm if needed.

[EddyCurrent]

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

It might be that if you used a hard wood, hard as in 'aluminium like', you may have more success, but even so I'm cutting aluminium on my pin router that's designed for wood but I find it likes a speed of about 8000 to 10000 rpm with a 6mm spiral cutter designed for aluminium.

Janka hardness test - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://workshoppages.com/WS/Misc/Woo...ness-Chart.pdf

[GEOFFREY]

Unless you use a very large diameter cutter you will only "chew" most timber at 4000 rpm.This is where the horses for courses bit comes in. Milling machines are generally very rigid and are designed to cut metals and harder materials, but do not usually have high speed spindles. Routers on the other hand do usually have high speed spindles and are used predominately for softer materials. If you really want to cut timber (I seem to think that your first post referred mainly to cutting metal) I think you will need to become a "dab hand" at using abrasive paper!! Good luck. G.

[suesi34e]

Hi EddyCurrent,

Thank you for your thoughts, what you say makes sense. I think I will keep myeye out for a nice CNC router for future projects in wood. There seems to besome good spec ones from China to import. I had a look at your router build logamazing what a job you did. I watched the YouTube video too. I glad all thehard work turned out to be so worthwhile. I hope things go well for you.

All the best

Suesi

[suesi34e]

Thanks Geoffrey,

Thank you for your post. What I am hearing from you guys TCT cutters, slowspeeds and wood are far from an ideal match. I will look out for a good CNCrouter when ready for one!

If you or anyone finds a great starting source for just getting going on a CNCmill it would be very gratefully received a starting guide or pitfalls toavoid!

Many thanks

Suesi

[JAZZCNC]

If you or anyone finds a great starting source for just getting going on a CNCmill it would be very gratefully received a starting guide or pitfalls toavoid!

Can't beat on the job learning so just get on with using it and you'll pick it up has you go along.! . . . Experience wins every time so get experiencing. .

[EddyCurrent]

Some good books here
Engineering - Books - DVDs & Books | Axminster.co.uk
Video crash course in milling
Crash Course in Milling: Chapter 1 - Basic Machine Anatomy, by Glacern Machine Tools - YouTube

It's best to make sure you know good practice and good habits first, there's nothing worse than someone who is experienced in bad habits.

[Neale]

If I needed to cut wood and didn't have a high-speed spindle, I would cheerfully use my milling machine. And have done. Yes, you need to clamp the work down firmly, you need to take care with feed speed, etc. No, the finish might not be great, and yes, you do need to cover up slides and screws for protection against dust. Newspaper works well! It's as much of a compromise as using a handheld router to cut aluminium (people on this forum have done this - but you need to be very aware of what you are doing) or using a wood-cutting bandsaw to cut aluminium (I do that all the time, and accept that blade wear might be a bit high). But it can work - might get you out of a hole for the odd job. Just don't make a habit of it!

[suesi34e]

Hi EddyCurrent,

Many thanks for the links I have watched the YouTube videos they are great and feature some nice kit. I may buy a book or two from Axminster when I next place an order.

Many thanks

Suesi