Wanting to cut out a shape on a Shapeoko Pro XL from a 50mm thick piece of timber is this possible and what bit would I need?
Yes, this is possible, 50mm is well within the Z clearance of the Shapeoko Pro XL.
However, you may need to raise the router in its mount, depending on the length of the endmill you’re going to use. This is not a problem (if anything it mitigates natural router deflection, by bringing it closer to the center of the X axis).
Now the real challenge is finding an endmill with 50mm length of cut. Once you have that, you’re good to go, taking passes at an appropriate depth per pass depending on the wood and tool diameter.
If you’re going to do a contour cut 50mm deep, the next potential issue is slotting so deep and chip evacuation. To mitigate both problems, it’s useful to add extra geometry around the contour, and cut it as a narrow pocket
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You would need either a “Long reach” endmill w/ sufficient cutting flute length, or you would need to do the cut as a two-sided operation.
One option, if you have a router table is to offset the second cut and then clean up the cut on the router table using a flush cut bit.
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Hi.
That would do it but defeat what I am trying to do.
I make Guitars by hand at the moment and could cut a body on a Band Saw and Route it quite quickly. So why am I wanting to do it on a CNC Machine.
Well, having designed a body, I want to make several of them so my thoughts were, whilst one body is cutting on the CNC, I could get on with the finishing of another (or 2 or 3). Just time saving, that’s all.
Speed is not of the essence as I am not in business but repeating the same thing i.e. the body would be far better done on a CNC - or am I wrong?
Well a CNC is a robot, and they excel at doing things in a repeatable manner. For guitar bodies, I would think there’s also the benefit of milling out the pockets for pick ups / neck attachment, which must be a little tedious manually? (I have no clue, I’m not a woodworker)
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You are right. I should have said pockets and neck scoket as well.
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