I’m thinking of building a full sheet capable low rider but in order to determine whether it will be effective for my application can someone advise me on what overall linear cut rate I could expect when using a 1/2 inch router cutter on 3/4 inch MDF (actual cut rate x number of passes needed ) ?
The dewalt can’t use half inch end mills. Quarter inch is as large as it can hold. I’ve not tried to see how fast I can cut, I just want it to cut accurately, not too worried about how long it takes.
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It can hold a 1/2" bit with a 1/4" shank - or am I missing something?
I am probably on the conservative side of things but I cut MDF at 762mm/min, max 5mm depth of cut (so 5 passes) with a 1/4" bit.
I’ve done 7mm depth of cut to reduce the number of passes to 3 and it works fine but… I’m a chicken and backed down to 5mm depth of cut.
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I’ve never seen an end mill like that, only drill bits.
Router bits but they are not a end mill
I routinely cut MDF at 750mm/min with 4 flute 1/4" diameter 3/4" length of cut roughing endmills at 17.5mm DOC. 1000mm/min is possible, however if the stock isn’t secured really, really well… I’ve had problems. I’m presently cutting 18mm plywood though. I usually avoid 3/4" DOC with a 3/4" length of cut bit simply because any minor undulation or irregularity in the plywood stock can cause a crash.
I’m playing around with 3 flute 3/16 diameter 1" length of cut roughing endmills at full DOC on 3/4" MDF and having the best results with 500mm/min feedrate.https://www.lakeshorecarbide.com/316longcarbideroughingendmill.aspx
MDF is presenting a few challenges with chip clearing simply because it doesn’t make chips.
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