Finishing pass with V-bit?

Hi,
My machine is down for a few days while I do some maintenance and so on, so I can’t actually try this myself, but my question is: once my part is cut rather than tidying up the ply edges with sandpaper (with many holes, this can be extremely wearisome), can I do a finishing pass with a V-bit (say, 1mm DOC)? That ought to clear away all the rough bits?

In Estlcam, you can do this with an additional “engraving” pass.

If you don’t want to deal with the complications of a tool change routine, you can set it up as a second job with the same artwork.

If you want to give yourself a little room for error, you can make up a fake tool with a nominal diameter of (for example) 2mm which will then cut a line 1mm away from the one you already did. If your V bit is 90° then you will want a 2mm DOC, which will cut 1mm at the distance away.

Similar techniques have been used before with good success.

Estlcam (if you’re using it) also has a chamfer feature. You can select your tool and the amount of chamfer in MM’s
Works very well for cleaning up the edges.

Excellent - thank you gentlemen. I’ll give it a go. And yes, I am using Estlcam.

Hi again,
I’m trying to set up Estlcam to do a chamfering run on some pieces. I’ve selected a 10mm 60 deg V-bit, set the tip andgle to 120 deg, and the centre offset to 1mm, tip offset to 0mm. However, when I preview the job, Estlcam tells me I’m chamfering with an unsuitable tool.

What am I missing?

Were you able to figure it out? I’m curious what the solution was. :thinking:

Hi Matt. Not yet. I’ve put it on the back burner for now, but I promise to report back when I return to it.

Cheers,
Duncan