Routing Tool For Quality Plastic Finish (i.e Minimal Burrs)

[SB463]

No problem I hope it works for you, try and use a cutter with more flutes as well, this may break up the chips and burrs more frequently and so help to leave less of a burr.

.Me

Well I gave it a try but it didn't turn out well but that may be due to the speed.

It might help if you state what cutter size, flutes feeds and speeds you are using now.

to me it look like you are melting it. ..Clive

Let me add that my experience with all this is minimal, I've been dropped with the task now that the operator has left.

But here is the information you need:

Feedrate: 2200mm/min
Speed: 2000rpm
Cutter: 6mm Endmill with 2 flutes.

Thanks,

Jordan

[Lee Roberts]

Well I gave it a try but it didn't turn out well but that may be due to the speed. Let me add that my experience with all this is minimal, I've been dropped with the task now that the operator has left.

That's a shame, sorry about that.

My next question was going to be "what speeds and feeds are you using", as pointed out by Clive, it does look like its pushing rather than cutting, I would definitely try slowing the feed down, typically the number of flutes match the number of teeth on the cutter (not always though), if you don’t have a cutter with more teeth on it try raising the rpm as well (you may not need more teeth if you get them there quicker instead), experiment with the above until you find the happy medium.

.Me

[Boyan Silyavski]

What is the name of the plastic exactly that are you trying to cut???

That makes a BIG difference. feed and speed i mean.


Why these expensive bits. I can 100% recommend you these http://www.ebay.es/itm/1-4-3-FLUTE-C...66d1932&_uhb=1

I use them from a lot of time and a lot of time, extremely sharp and durable. And great price. For example outlasts x10 times the similar Freud/3x price/ and is quite sharper.


PS: Looking again at the photo. You need to fix this somehow both sides, even with extremely sharp tool it will vibrate, hence the marks. A clamp or something to strengthen the edge during machining. Fashion some kind of vise fixture.

[Lee Roberts]

What is the name of the plastic exactly that are you trying to cut???

That makes a BIG difference. feed and speed i mean.

Why these expensive bits. I can 100% recommend you these http://www.ebay.es/itm/1-4-3-FLUTE-C...66d1932&_uhb=1

I use them from a lot of time and a lot of time, extremely sharp and durable. And great price. For example outlasts x10 times the similar Freud/3x price/ and is quite sharper.

I would think it will be ABS Silyavski, thanks for the link i've added it to my ebay watching list, I was thinking that a nice sharp+hard cutter (carbide) would be better but didnt even think about the helix, thanks for the tip!

.Me

[Boyan Silyavski]

I would think it will be ABS Silyavski, thanks for the link i've added it to my ebay watching list, I was thinking that a nice sharp+hard cutter (carbide) would be better but didnt even think about the helix, thanks for the tip!

.Me

All the bits i use are only Kyocera bits from him, unbeatable price quality. Funny that they are the cheapest around. The seller is fast and packet comes for 5 days to Spain from USA.


Now back on the plastic. I posted it before, so just dug it out. I dont know what is your machine . Mine is very flimsy. So these should work 100% on any machine. Treat ABS as Plexiglas.

Plastic likes sharp bits.

Depth of cut is crucial for melting the plastic. You can just use the suggested speeds and speeds slowly raising the depth of cut until you are happy.



Everything in imperial,1/8 or 1/4 it doesn't matter as usually the machine is the limiting factor here , not the bit , though more careful with longer or thinner bits :

soft plastic , its scratching but if you go deeper with flimsy machine, it melts.
Attachment 10779

plexiglass
Attachment 10780

MDF,wood, works for phenolic plastic also, composite panel
Attachment 10783

[SB463]

These are excellent resources for me, thank you!

Once the bit is delivered I'll run it with the correct parameters and see how it goes.

Thank you both very much!

[SB463]

I know it's ABS, if you need to know what kind I can find out.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll put that forward.

At the moment we complete 8 in a process and the way we fasten them down is using a block of wood, so I'll look into improving that.