Slow your xy feeds down. When I did mine, it was running at 500mm/m.
Using these bits.
Barry - I slowed it down with the same bit… same results…
Then I switched to a single flute at the full 12k rpms and I think it did good. I didn’t have the depth as deep as it should have been but all in all first cut… pretty good I think…
I’ll try your settings on another cut too.
I’d also like to learn how you engrave/etch on acrylic… what bits / depths / speed etc…
It might be those 2 flute cutters. They look more like rotozip bits than endmills. Single flute cutters work better with plastics anyway, especially at these speeds. Plastic likes slow rotational speeds, so a single flute is “slower” than a 2 flute. I also can’t tell if you have a dust collector in place. They’ll help keep the plastic cooler with the airflow.
No mounted collection… I was running my shop vac along the side when cutting. I am going to try some more parts tomorrow but this evening I was trying to figure out how to engrave onto the plexi.
Now I am trying to engrave with a 45 degree V bit but if I go any deeper than .50mm the tip gets clogged.
Also, when trying to engrave onto acrylic I am not sure how fast you should have the feedrate.
Read through here. You might need to slow down your spindle.
Thanks Barry I will check it out…
One final question for today ---- What is the correct orientation for the Logo that Ryan has on his low rider parts?
One of the bearing spaces needs to point up.
Well just when I thought I had things down for trying to engrave into the acrylic I ended up wasting a huge amount of it last night. I am not sure if I am using the wrong type of bit or my feed rates are all wrong.
Basically the end of the bit develops a small ball of the acrylic and then overtime it just get larger and ruins the rest of the engraving.
I was using this bit - http://www.ebay.com/itm/380982067909
My toolpath depth was set at .65mm
The step down was set at .10mm, Plunge angle 90degrees, Feedrate 200mm/s, Plunge Feedrate 8mm/s and the spindle was at full speed which I think is 12k.
I also ran compressed air on the bit at the same time.
Some parts turned out fine and others due to the bit getting the acrylic melted ruined the rest of the engraving.
I would go slower and deeper per pass. The machine is firmware limited to 190mm/s and does not perform well at those kinds of speeds you should be between 5-40 for the Xand y.
You are going to have to just mill squares or something into some scrap to get the settings correct. Plastic is fairly difficult, just under metal, so the settings are much more important than wood.