It’s been brought to my attention that when cutting the outer contour of a shape out of a piece of wood that I should be using a pocketing operation that is approximately 10% wider than the bit I am using.
Up till now I’ve had no problems until I tried to cut faster.
I was curious as to how many people use the pocketing operation to cut out the contour of shapes?
I do, and I consider the awful noise one gets when cutting a slot a problem in-and-of-itself, even if the cut is otherwise successful.
1 Like
Would you say that the 10% you add is about how much time you would add to cutting the contour as well? I’m really working on honing my production settings because the things I’m making are turning over kind of fast at the moment.
Also, is either a compression or an upcut end mill bit a possible selection for keeping the heat down
And now that you point out the noise, generally speaking is a loud, cut a bad thing, and that you probably need to adjust a setting? Because I thought I was going to go deaf sitting next to that, thing cutting that slot.
It roughly doubles the time unfortunately.
A compression tool works well in plywood, but usually needs an adaptive/trochoidal toolpath on our machines.
Upcut tooling clears chips well, but may chip the top surface of wood (some folks use a downcut for the pocket around a part, then switch to an upcut for the final contour cut).
The sound of a cut is a good indication of how hard the machine is working — I try to keep it even/consistent.
Get hearing protection — double up w/ foam earplugs and earmuffs, even for quick/quiet cuts.
3 Likes
I still use a slot cut but use offsets.
For example, if cutting 3/4" material, I create two offset lines (these can be 10% of the bit width like you suggested.
The farther offset line I cut from 0 to 1/4" depth, move to the closer offset line and cut from 1/4 to 1/2" depth, then move to the design line to cut from 1/2 to bottom. Each 1/4" increment depth is cut in however many passes you choose.
This just creates shallower slots.
A good problem to have as long as it still stays fun.
I have only done one paying job so far but finally have my business registered and plan to start “advertising” for some work soon.
I do have some pre-orders for some coasters but hope to get a few more before starting that run.
I cut hardwoods all the time, including ebony, and have never had a problem with “slots” for perimeters. That said, my cuts are rarely more than 5 mm deep overall and I take fairly shallow passes.
1 Like
Well looks like I need to do some testing in the shop! Fun, and as always thanks for all the input.
The real difference between a slot and a pocket of this nature is that the slot stays the same width during the entire operation. This may lead to rubbing as the bit moves lower in the slot to cut deeper.
With pocketing, it starts out as a slot for the cut depth, but the pocketing operation then clears out the other side of the pocket so the worst you get with the slotting part of the operation is one single depth of slot.
1 Like
Depends on the thickness of the stock. (wood,plastic, metal) If it is less than .250 wood I do one path
1 Like
Can anyone tell me how tabs work if I add the offset cut to the outer countor?
Please see:
if you still have difficulty, post your file and we will walk through this with you in it.
This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.