S I’m machining some 6mm acrylic as an insert for a friend’s sewing machine table with a one eighth bit with four flutes - it’s the only one eighth bit I own, and initially it goes ok… Until massive amounts of melted acrylic begin to clog the bit. I get it off and make attempts to modify feeds and speeds to no avail. I know the bit is wrong but if I can just nurse it through, but no. I got to about 2mm depth and there were 4mms to go and the melted acrylic was constantly clogging the bit.
Then I thought I’d use some WD40. I stopped the machine and filled the wells left by the tool, and amazingly, it worked! So after each pass I stopped the machine, filled up the wells with WD40 and continued on. It was a bit messy but, it worked.
I have subsequently ordered a more appropriate bit
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Indeed, 4 flutes is 3 too many for acrylic ![]()
The other universal cure for melted acrylic is feeding faster, and then some. But a 4flute requires feeding 4 times faster, so need quite convenient or possible sometimes
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