I have a 15” x 15” x 1” piece of Aspen that I want to carve on, which isn’t a problem. But I need to cut a circle all the way through it and none of my bits are long enough.
Any suggestions on which bit can cut through 1” or thicker stock?
I’d plane it down to 3/4, but my planer isn’t big enough nor do I really want to use a bit to take that much material off.
I bought a Melin bit that has a 1.5 inch capacity. I used it to cut through 1.5 inch treated pine on some outdoor chairs. Worked great. Will post model later when I get off phone and on pc.
It’s a 2-flute 1/4" square endmill, so you could just pick the feeds and speeds recommended for the #201, and lower the feedrate by 1/3rd (since #201 has 3 flutes and this one only has two, that would end up putting the same load on the tool)
Depth per pass could stay the same.
I purchased the Amana 46321 after having my 201 snag in a deep rounded pocket. It has a cutting length of 1 1/4" and is pretty nice. Other than that, I find that it behaves basically like the 201.
I’m not sure if what you think is holding you back is that the bit can’t reach the bottom or that it doesn’t have 1" cutting length. On the second point, you really don’t need to match the cutter to the depth of cut. If you run the appropriate step downs and roughing passes, it won’t rub / deflect enough to cause a problem for something like aspen. I see from properties tables it is something between basswood and walnut.
@kelaa Before I got my HDZ, I was pocketing a cardioid shape 1" deep with a 201 bit using smaller than the default depth changes (in a piece of Walnut). Twice, after the bit surpassed its 3/4" cutting depth, it hung up on the edge of the pocket on withdrawal (about to start another pass) and dropped Z steps, causing it to plunge into the piece on the next pass. The first time, I wasn’t paying enough attention to see what really happened, but the second time, I saw as it hung up on the curved inside of the box. Since changing to the 1 1/4" bit (and an HDZ), I haven’t seen that type of problem.
It makes sense that a 1/4" shank and 1/4" bit should be able to go deeper than the cutting length, but with a curved piece, that seemed to be a problem. I’d also guess that the standard belt Z didn’t have the horsepower to pull the bit back up as cleanly as the HDZ does. I guess it’s just safer to have the cutting depth longer than the depth of cut.
I think that speaks to the capabilities of the belted Z setup more than anything else. I’m not sure when Carbide3D stopped offering the belted Z setup to save customers the frustration, but in May 2020 when I was buying the machine the $125 or so upgrade for the Z-plus seemed a no-brainer.
For the record, yes, I’ve gone deeper than the cutter length of the 201 bit, to about 1 1/4" or so on things like SPF lumber and cedar. I’ve never gotten into trouble myself, but yes, people should be aware of experiences like yours, Gary. For sure it doesn’t hurt to have more than one 1/4" endmill on hand. But I do hope people don’t fall into the equipment upgrade trap, always look to the next tool or upgrade, and before you know it can’t make a wedge door stop out of wood without a 5 axis CNC machine.
Personally I would break out my Whiteside UD2102. That said when I need unusual lengths I have ordered from Harvey https://www.harveytool.com/. You have to find a local distributor but my friendly local distributor even arranged for me to pick it up at the factory (beautiful North Shore of MA).