Looking for advice to reduce thickness stock

CNC Machines Shapeoko
1

Hi,

I am working on a project where I need to reduce the thickness of my stock, currently my stock is 1.850" in thickness and need to reduce it to 1.600.

These are the details:

15 x 23 inches w/1.85 thickness (solid spruce wood)

Any advice about how to remove this material more efficient?

I don’t have a planer or other power tools for this and I am not sure how hard would be for my Shapeoko XL to complete this job, I am planning split the job in 2, first one side and then rotate to complete the other part.

Would appreciate any recommendation of endmills, my router is a Dewalt planning to use the carbide #201 endmill for this, unless someone suggest a better candidate.

Thanks a lot in advance.
Jaime

2

You should be able to do that — I’d suggest removing 1/8" from one side and flipping and removing an equal amount from the other — the challenge of course is the workholding – might need to make multiple passes in sections on a side after adjusting clamps.

Just make sure the router is plumb and square and the wasteboard is trammed first — might want to mill a pocket to place the board into.

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3

Thanks Will,

I will keep that in mind.

4

I’d consider investing in a bottoming bit. The cheap ones are not the best you will ever get but will do the job for spruce/wood. It will also let you face allot quicker.

5

thanks @Luke

This is what I found, I am not sure if these are good options for this job?

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6

The 2 nd option is what I’ve used before

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7

I avoid most things uxcell, but Roman Carbide seems to have decent stuff, and this is the one I have.

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8

Depending on your requirements for the final finish, a plunge router bit can also be used to thin the piece (3/4" or 1" diameters). If you are using Fusion 360 then you will need to create a new cutter under the CAM section and use it in a 2D Surfacing operation. Creating a new cutter definition can be done with calipers and recreating the profile under this section. Then use that in Fusion 360 to generate tool paths, and then POST it.

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9

Thanks @MaxamillionX72

I will get one of those, I will be doing this process more than once, so investing in a good tool for this project seems to be a good idea.

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Thanks @Tem

I will try to use Carbide Create if possible, I use Fusion 360 as well but I am still in the learning curve and feel more comfortable using CC.

After reducing the thickness will do a 3D carve using F360 involving a 2 side carve, it will be a big challenge for me to complete this project, I am planning to use 2 pins to flip the stock and try to keep my 0 in the same place.

11

Jaime, I usually recommend 3 pins for alignment. It all depends on what you are making. Maybe 2 pins are enough for your project. I wish you good luck and hope you can learn more.

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12

Thank you @Tem

Will consider 3 pins though.

13

I use a .500 dado bit like @JaiFlors first pic.It works pretty well. I make a pocket program with an offset that is larger than my stock size so I get full coverage. Make sure that you are not plunging deeper that the flutes are extending or the bit center will stop z travel. I do 0.125" steps max. It would be better if we could force an edge start, but I haven’t figured that one out yet.

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