Pocket Bit for serving tray

[drewschrader]

New here…Shapeoko Pro arriving this week. First project will be a small serving tray. Want to pocket out the middle 1/4"-1/2". I have a 1" surfacing bit but would like the inside edge rounded at the bottom. What do you suggest?

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

See:

Can someone (in US) recommend a 1/2" ball nose end mill for a 1/4" shank?

That said, the best approach here is to rough out the design using a suitable 1/4" or 8mm tool, then only use the larger bowl bit for finishing passes and final shaping, removing only as much material as is necessary to achieve a good result reliably. An example of this sort of thing: Given a small pocket which we wish to have a rounded bottom: [image] and which we are using a 1/4" ball-nosed tool to round, we start by rounding the corners: [image] and we plot out a toolpath to the desir…