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I have a model project which requires the machining of some fine detail CNC 3D forms.
Would like advice please on the most suitable wood for this purpose from my stock. I am aware that Boxwood and Lime are probably desirable but do not hold that.
I have access to :- Rosewood, Hard and soft Maple. Iruku, American cherry. Fine grained Beech.
Have cutter speeds up to 20,000 rpm if required.
Practical advice appreciated.
Pearwood is very good, but generally any of the fruitwoods. G.
Geoffrey
How would you rate the fruitwoods against Boxwood and Lime?
Was hoping to use, but not absolutely, the stock that I have.
Nice pear tree in the back garden. (there may be objections??)
Of your available timbers hard maple would be my first choice then soft, beech, cherry , rose... If machining iroko( I assume that's what you mean ) you want very good dust extraction as the dust is carcinogenic ( and no wood dust is good for you)
Mike
Thanks. The hard maple I have in a good range of piece sizes. So will go with that in the morning.
Have fairly good extraction.
Apologies for lazy spelling!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mike os
NO DUST IS GOOD FOR YOU - wood or any almost other substance. G.
I have machined a lot of tiny forms /V cutter/ from Maple and Iroko. Both hold good detail but there are better woods. Nothing holds better detail than Ipe and similar exotic woods, speaking for small parts and details. Pear is the best general wood, as suggested before. All model builders i know of, use pear for the wood details.
I cut all wood at diameter depth and 16.000 RPM the soft woods and 17-18 000 RPM the harder ones 30IPM per flute, hence 60IPM for 2 flute cutter.Same speeds for V cutter. Yes, some may find these conservative but going faster or deeper does not help with fine details at all or wood splits. Smallish distance between cuts must not be less than 1.5mm
The sharper the cutter, the better. Always start with new cutter new job.
silyavski
Thanks for your advice, especially feeds and speeds.
Do you use small down flutes or straights? I currently only have miniatures in standard carbide up flutes.
Hi,
i use mainly Kyocera solid carbide bits from Drillman1 ebay. Very very sharp and cheap too. Small stuff i profile usually with 2 flutes fishtail bits. Generally i use 3mm/ 1/8" / bits for profiling. If you are planning to use smaller, you would have to lower the Feed rate even more. He has a lot of small bits. I use only Upcut.
For details and so i use V cutters, mainly 60 degree for general engraving. 3O degree is very sharp but you have to slow it down at least like 3 times from what i said before
if you need smaller than 3mm bits, the best he sells are the ones mounted on 6mm or 1/4 shank.
You need these, take note of the fishtail , not square end and how the flutes are deeper for a better chip removal. These will stay sharp longer time.
http://www.mycncuk.com/attachment.ph...id=14461&stc=1
These below would work but its primary use is towards aluminum and you have to slow it down even further. They have X times worst chip cleaning than the fishtail. Though they are quite stronger as the flutes are not so deep.
http://www.mycncuk.com/attachment.ph...id=14462&stc=1
ps. Forgot to tell you. The 3 FLUTE CARBIDE ENDMILLS - 0 HELIX Kyocera Tycom he sells are brutal. I use the 1/4 constantly and could say its the best ever router bit for wood i used. Now i saw that he has 1.6mm ones. and 2.4mm ones .
These are or could be even better than the 2 flutes fishtail in certain scenarios. I did not know he has so small of them. The photos does not do them justice, so sharp and shiny are they in reality. I like them better for soft woods especially if the wood has nasty fibers.
http://www.mycncuk.com/attachment.ph...id=14463&stc=1
silyavski
Thanks again for your detailed advice. On a quick look I do have a couple of fishtails, ashamed to say I never noticed that detail until you mentioned it. The links are particularly useful and will be no doubt adding my cutter box.
Appreciate your taking the time to help.
silyavski
Ordered some 1.6 from drillman1. Thanks, tested my schoolboy Spanish!!!!
ha ha, i send you the link from ebay.es , forgot about that.
The savings are considerable. For example what bit he sales for 6$ is 20€ here in Europe , from the German Kyocera branch.
I am doing fine carving with mini saw cutter angled at 45 deg and 6 mm in dia. It last much longer. Cleaning with virgin V cutters.
V cutters are cheap and can be resharpened with polishing on glass table.
Maple is not the best but it is much better than beech. 3d deep, maple can be squared.
regards