Is it advisable to use my flattering bit (1” dia) to rough out a 1” deep pocket? I’d then go back and finish cut with a1/4” bit.
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Most of those bits don’t plunge well (or not at all) and cuts depth per pass would need to be so small that you might not gain anything over just using the 1/4" mill.
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Ok. Thank you.
Just trying to reduce the 1/4” end mill cutting time down from 86 minutes for the pocket.
It’s an inch deep. Maybe a ball end would tolerate more feet per minute?
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Probably the #201 can go faster — the feeds and speeds in Carbide Create are quite conservative — what material are you cutting?
I’m cutting black walnut
Extensive discussion at:
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Thank you Will!
I’ve been extremely conservative with DOC, WOC, feed rate, and rpm.
I occasionally use the percentage increases in Carbide motion for some of my cuts.
The full explanation on cutter geometry etc is what I was missing!
I believe my cut times will decrease quite a bit.
Black walnut is a medium hard hardwood. Walnut in general carves very well. Using a 1" fly bit could work but you would need to run rest machining to clean up the corners left behind by such a large bit. Not sure if rest machining is available on the free version of CC. My experience with trying to flatten cherry is the 1" bit burns the heck out of it. Walnut is not as rich in resin as cherry but can still be burned. So you could try it on a scrap but likely the 1" bit would have issues. The 1" bit puts a lot of strain on the trim routers. If you have a VFD spindle it might work but just be aware that with such a big cutting surface it is likely to burn. If you have the pro version of CC do a roughing cut and finishing cut. The finishing cut takes a very shallow depth of cut.
I would do Two toolpaths. 1 to rough cut. Then, 1 with a 1/4” end mill.
I’m conservative with my feeds and cutting depth.
I’m not sure the Shapeoko router will take the cut times or depth of cuts with a 1” flattening bit!
It’ll probably overheat!
I’ve cut walnut with an end mill. 1” deep pocket.
Takes 48-53 minutes.
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