Yeah, I know 1100 is not great for machining but its what i have lots of scrap so i thought it would work well enough for test cuts while i’m trying to get the hang of my machine. I’ll definitely see about sourcing some 6061, i know a few folks in the fabrication world who might be able to help.
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I actually bought a few single flute endmills with my machine but I don’t want to use them until im a little more confident about how things are running. I’m just using the carbide essentials endmills right now so i’m not breaking any expensive bits with my learning process. As Julien said, any advice you could share on wasteboard leveling would be fantastic.
Here are the posts I’ve made in the Shapeoko/Nomad FB group, there may be others as well:
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Thanks for the links but i’ve actually never bothered with a FB account so i can’t view it. Any chance you could post the important stuff here? Also, does the hybrid table mdf need to be surface as well as the wasteboad you put on top? Or is surfacing the secondary wasteboard good enough?
I’d second the single flute in Aluminium advice.
Especially in the softer stuff trying to keep a 2 or 3 flute from jamming up with goo without either air blast or lubricant is a constant challenge, single flutes are just much better at throwing chips out instead of welding to them.
I’ve had some success with Isopropanol as a lubricant on Aluminium cuts where I had chip evacuation troubles and it does help, but not as much as the right cutter.
Not all single flute are expensive, I buy cheaper DLC coated single flute 4mm cutters over here for ~ $10 each. They’re not as nice as an Amana, but I’m less upset if I break them.
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Looks like I posted the Pro info here. 
I use a different pattern now that is staggered.
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That’s great info, thanks a lot. Question for you: is there a reason not to just create a very shallow pocket tool path with a surfacing bit to run the length/width of the full cutting area?
That’s a valid approach — it leaves a lip around the cutting area which is problematic for some folks — a spoil board the size of the working area, plus surfacing endmill diameter w/ radiused corners works for some folks.
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Many people do just that…a large pocket. If you never cut a larger piece that works great. I often do pieces that are slightly larger, so I wanted the work area to sit proud of the area the endmill can’t reach.
Many people use another wasteboard on top of the slats. But I wanted unfettered access to the t-track.
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Yeah, that makes sense. One more question and ill leave you guys alone. I have been using a second wasteboard on top of the hybrid table mdf. Is it enough to just surface the second waste board, or is it best practice to level the mdf slats as well?
That. What’s important is the “final” surface the stock is lying on, regardless of the stackup geometry below that
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I’m with @Julien
The important surface is the one you’re machining on. In your case, that would be the supplementary surface on top of the slats. Many, many Shapeoko users go that route and it works awesome. The consistency of MDF thickness, the flatness and rigidity of the Hybrid Bed system, mean that you already have a pretty darn level surface to start. So you surfacing just the supplementary wasteboard should work great.
I also use a supplementary wasteboard at times when I’m using adhesive workholding on small pieces. A flat surface with no low areas allows me to place more tape surface area and not just hoping my cuts end up on slats. I can just quickly re-surface any previous cuts and have a fresh surface.
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Awesome, I’ll take a stab at surfacing my supplementary wasteboard this weekend. I plan to buy a surfacing bit but I’ve read a few people have done it with a 1/4" endmill which I might try first. Any speeds and fees recommendations you can make? The wasteboard I’ve been using is a peice of 3/4’ thick mdf approx 9" x 15".
Easily done with a 1/4" endmill…just time consuming. 
I usually save a few files when surfacing:
0.010" depth
0.020" depth
0.030" depth
I run surfacing at 200 IPM because of the really shallow depths of cut.
That way if the shallowest file doesn’t clean it up, then I have the next depth already saved on the tablet to load up so I don’t have to reset Z to go lower. I take a pencil, scribble all over the wasteboard and just use progressively deeper files to just barely get it flat, but take off the least amount possible.
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That’s great news, I do plan on buying a surfacing bit but ill give it a go with a 1/4’ endmill first since i have a few already 
. One last question about the cutting parameters: I see in carbide create tool library the depth per pass for the 201 1/4’ cutter is .050 in/per minute which is obviously deeper then i want it to go. If I set my max cut depth to say .020 for surfacing in CC, will the machine cut to my desired depth? I hope that makes sense. Thanks again for all your help!
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In the tool library, that would be the max depth of would go in one pass… not what you specify for the depth of the pocket. So if your feature depth is shallower than the depth per pass, then it would still only cut to the pocket depth.
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Hey guys,
I ran what i’m pretty confident is a successful surfacing job on my suppletory wasteboard taking off .020’, but unfortunately i’m still having issues. I ran my same test job again, a basic contour cut out of a square and while the job started out well, it continues to plunge too deep when its starts traveling along the x axis. Just to be sure my wasteboard is level to the gantry, I dropped the z down to where its just touching the board and jogged it around and it looks good with no high/low spots. Any thoughts as to what else this issue might be? Again I stopped the job before it finished as there’s clearly an issue.
I see you have tape holding down the aluminum but in the picture it also looks like the corners are lifting off the wasteboard. When you run the job does it look like your material is getting pulled up into the endmill? Maybe worth trying to apply some workholding on the corners to see if that fixes you issue.
Assuming that cut was supposed to be at a consistent z depth, I would first check that my collet was tight, as the endmill may be pulling itself into the material. Second, I would double check my z motor connections, as they may not be making a good enough connection to hold the z carriage up, and allowing the endmill to pull it down into the material.
Thanks for the suggestion but the only reason the corners are a bit lifted is from me trying to pry it off my wasteboard, that double side tape is strong! I made sure it was a flat as possible when securing it.