Uneven Pocket 201 endmill

Getting uneven finish when using endmill 201 for a pocket. What am i doing wrong?

What is the total depth of the pocket?

What is your Depth per Pass?

Try adjusting them so that an additional pass is made which removes a very small thickness of material.

For example, if cutting to a depth of 0.5" with a Depth per Pass of 0.125" so that four full depth passes are made, reduce the Depth per Pass to 0.124" — that will result in five passes being made, the first 4 at full depth, while the last removes only 0.004" of material.

I thought of that but i have made a ton of signs typically all to the depth of .125 with only 1 out of 10 doing this. My cuts are .08 on all of these that i cut

What type of machine? What type of Z axis?

Could the material be flexing? Could it have warped as the material was removed?

Shapeoko 5 pro. No way the material is flexing. Its secured with screws in each corner of the piece

But what about the middle? Wood is notorious for warping, and large shallow pocket like this are prime for movement.

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Second @wmoy . When the heat produced by the spinning bit material will warp and/or rise up with up cut bits.

Try the super glue and painters tape at least in the middle.

Wood can be under tension in opposite directions. IE rip a 2x4 in your table saw, it can pinch the blade. Or it is bowed afterwards
While the blank is whole the tension is balanced. remove part of the wood and there goes the balance. This is more so the more the wood is unseasoned.

Also I have found that if there is any moister in the wood the router bit can heat it up so much that it creates steam which can release the internal tension and or swell fibers.

While on the topic of steam in wood :slight_smile:
My trick for fixing small dents in wood is to wet paper towel or cloth. put it on the dent let the water get into the fibers a bit then use a household iron and place it on the wet cloth. Press it in and move it around to create maximum steam. As soon as the steam dies down. remove, rewet the cloth and repeat. This will swell the wood fibers and relax them. As long as the dent did not cut the fibers, most of the time the dent comes out. or at least it looks a lot better.
I then use a dry paper towel and the iron to heat the wood, drying the fibers and pulling the water out.
Depending on your situation, you might need to sand again as it may swell the fibers around the dent.
I have done this on finished wood, you probably don’t want to sand that :slight_smile:

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