NEW NEW to CNC and diving in head first!

Okay, so I have read like 10 different threads on this but all of them are closed so, I have to bring it back up. I am simply going to face mill a 21.5" x 14" x 2" African Mahogany blank for a Guitar. I need my finish depth to be exactly 1.125 but I want my 603E (McFly) to end up at like 1.225 and I will use my drum sander to get the final size. Now to the question. When I pull the basic factory data in Carbide Create for the 603E it says it will take HOURS to complete? I see guys on Youtube running these face mills in minutes on similar hardwood. I am guessing my DPP has a lot to do with it but, I need some input. I even changed some of the input data and dropped it down from like 796 minutes to 345, but, its still a very long cut time.

Vector size is 22x15 when I ran 21.5 x 14 there were corners left in my simulation on Carbide Create.

Milling African Mahogany 21.5" x 14" x 2" want the end to be 21.5" x 14" x 1.225"
using a Carbide Compact Shapeoko Pro
345 minutes (pocket toolpath)

Stepover is .6
DPP .02
PR 20
FR 60
RPM 18000

Plan on running a test this Wednesday… Wish me luck… might have it done by the Weeked!

Ouch. You’re really going to convert almost 40% of that blank into chips?

Don’t you know someone w/ a bandsaw?

Isn’t it worth re-sawing by hand?

2 Likes

I know. I know. Unfortunately not. The wood shop that I bought the wood from does have a planer that can handle 14" wide… mine stops at 12"… if anyone knows of someone with a big band saw in AZ that can handle these blanks they can have the cut offs as payment for cutting the wood.

Removing that much wood just takes time. I looked at my settings just to see if a 1/4 bit with a much higher depth per pass would be faster (it was not). So the McFly is your best way to do this, but there is still hope to speed things up.

My thoughts if I was doing this…

(1) Carbide Motion has a feature that lets you adjust the feed rate (10% to 200%). You can use that feature along with what your ears and eyes are telling you to change the feed rate as needed. I would suggest starting with a slightly more aggressive feed rate of 80ipm, and when the job starts use Carbide Motion to (initially) decrease the feed rate to 50% so you’ll start at a VERY consertive speed of 40ipm. But your effective range of speed could be from 8ipm all the way up to 160ipm.

(2) In Carbide Create I would set the Zero Height to be “Bottom”, since the ending thickness is your most important stat. Experience tells me that the reality is that wood is not (exactly) 2" thick, and doing this makes up for whatever variation there is.

(3) However, because of my “Bottom” setting I would know that the very first pass will NOT be taking off exactly .02 of material, could be more, could be less. So while I would be adjusting the speed during that first pass, I would know that the 2nd pass would need it’s own adjustments as it will be taking off exactly .02 inches. The tuning during that 2nd pass should be the same for the remaining 38 passes.

(4) Dust collection, you are about to make a lot of dust. Keep on eye on everything, and use the “Pause” feature in Carbide Motion if you need to. I use it that when something looks off and I want time to think, evaluate, clean up, etc.

(5) Work Holding, very important. I would use a lot of clamps, I would make sure they all stay under 1.225 inches from the bottom of my material. The wood is going to change on your during this operation, whatever internal stresses there are in the wood are going to change, removing that much material I would just expect it to warp a little (or a lot). I would NOT trust double-sided tape to hold that material for that long under these conditions.

(6) Don’t hesitate if you instincts are telling you to hit the kill switch. This job is very easy to start over after remeasuring the (new) thickness and altering the stock thickness in Carbide Motion. You may even want to kill the job and flip the wood over to mill off the other side, depending on which side starts to warp.

1 Like

I forgot about the ability to adjust the speed on the fly. I think I will try that out on an MDF blank first. See how the first few layers go. And then bring in the hardwood. I have 3 mahogany blanks I’m going to be doing this to… so I know its going to be A LOT… I have a dust collection system on by CNC already plus I will be standing by with my air compressor to clean as needed.

I plan on using double sided tape AND clamps.

I will probably try to limit my cuts to 1/4" at a time and let it rest for a few days.

I am not in a rush to get this done. And don’t want to burn out my router.

I will probably order some replacement blades for my McFly too. I know this wood is hard to work with.

Also check out the “Moy McFly Mod”.

Maybe I don’t need to buy replacement carbide cutting blades… Comes with two sets from the factory! 4-2=2 right? Anyways. Thank you for the help.

I’ve had my McFly for almost 2 years now, granted I’m just a weekend user but in that time I have rotated the blades once. Probably time to do it again but the point is that it should be a long time before you have to buy new blades.

1 Like

same here, just a weekend user. But, my first BIG project is building a guitar (3).

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.