Drag Bit / Estlcam

Looking for anyone whos used a drag bit on their MPCNC for acrylic or metals.

Hoping to learn how to set this up in Estlcam, tool setup, speeds, etc. Lessons learned…

thanks-

A drag knife? I don’t know what a drag bit is.

https://www.v1engineering.com/drag-knife-vinyl-cutter/

Diamond Drag Bit - http://www.ebay.com/itm/192104140363

Oh, That’s cool. So you can just chuck it into the router (without turning on the router) and it will scratch off some paint on a soft surface. That’s neat.

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Very cool. I would guess you could do a typical engrave “on line” - Possibly set your bit just above the surface and start with a shallow depth of like .5mm and go from there. Would be interesting to see if you could score glass with this and snap it out (obviously not much more than straights and angles).

Neil

Here is a short video of the MPCNC with the diamond drag bit on 1/4 plexi.

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So you are saying I can automate my lottery ticket addiction?!!!??!!?!

Mostly Printed Lottery ticket Scratcher.

I am going to need everyone to send back anything you have bought from the site, I need to rebrand.

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MPCNC is not as good as an American quarter. /Troll

@Kris, that is awesome. Do you have any tips or techniques?

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So I have not tips or tricks… but what I have been told is you are to use cast acrylic.

I am merely messing with Plexi as that is what I have available.

I was told to do the following when setting up the bit/etch: Lower you router or whatever you use until you sink half of the spring travel onto the workpiece. Then set you z at 0. I cut all my etches at .01 ". You will not miss any vectors that your software has created by doing this.

I am not entirely sure how to do that… I am going to give another try by going down 5mm which is about half the spring travel.

Though on this next test in Estlcam I have it set up as a carve and when I load into repetier the V seems to have some gaps and I cannot figure out why this is…

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That looks like a display artifact. The shape is totally different too, so I wouldn’t think it’s a gcode problem.

Anyone able to share their Drag Bit settings, and/or tips and tricks? Looking to engrave acrylic/polycarbonate and metal to begin with. Maybe Sugar glass too…

Don’t want to damage or overly wear down my $60 RDZ 1/4" 90deg diamond drag bit engraver on the first cut. Cheers!

I ran mine at 35mm/s and 1mm DOC I believe i set the bit size at .5mm with a 15% stepover (screwed up and bit isn’t in estlcam anymore) I honestly think I could have ran higher than 35mm/s but I don’t know enough to know how much is too much for the stepper drivers and I didn’t want to overheat them and screw up the long cut i was doing.

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From 2016. By Ryan:

https://docs.v1e.com/tools/drag-knife/

Maybe a different drag knife, and maybe out of date. But I trust the source.

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My apologies. Was just sharing my experience.

I’m not sure why you’re apologizing. Your experience is very welcome. I was not saying I don’t trust you.

That’s your inherent authority. :smile: