Burnt bit slotting MDF

[d4cnc]

So a little success.. got the slots cut without issue.. no smoke.. no burnt MDF.. much cleaner cut on the top of the MDF too.. I used 1500mm/min with the 2 degree ramp down at 1000mm/min & then upped it 20% where I could hear a little low frequency vibration.. not certain what it was I didn't go further but I'm happy with the cuts. This was at 6mm DOC & I forgot to mention spindle speed before.. but this was at 12k rpm. Before I was at 18k. Much too fast. So both of these changes probably helped..


The T-slot bit next.. Is the strategy the same? ie. 12k RPM and 1500mm/min.

[Boyan Silyavski]

Nevertheless between jobs i always clear the bits with acetone and then oil the for conservation. Using a soft piece of towel and carefull not to cut my fingers. The big benefit of straight bits is that they are much cheaper to run, cause they could be sharpened very cheaply and even by you, just passing behind the edge with diamond file. So a micrograin carbide 2 or even better 3 flutes straight bit will always be my preferred bit for wood, laminate, and similar.

[d4cnc]

Thanks Boyan, I'd not given any thought to bit maintenance, so will go & do some research now.. is acetone recommended for cleaning? I do have some here but would be a bit worried about something so flammable on a router bit..