is there a good tutorial on how to use ESTLCAM. I’m not at my machine right now but was gonna try to setup toolpaths and it just does not seem very user friendly. I’m sure its a error on my part its just very frustrating.
He has some youtube videos for an older version that are real close to version 11
He also has a ton of videos for 12 (in German, though).
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Denatured may have methanol in it ( at least the brand I buy does), I’m not a doctor but I would wonder about breathing in methanol fumes. So that is something to consider.
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Some links and pictures here…
Anyone using 1/4" single O flute, or have an opinion on them versus upcut? Until now, was figuring upcut was preferred, but, earlier today I came across a nice video showing O flute contour slot cutting through Alu pretty well. No Trochoidal, as blasphemous as that may seem to some folks.
fwiw - related chat with AI
Interesting AI chat. I haven’t heard about O Flute mills before.
My only question would be the use of 1/4" vs 1/8". I have only used the 1/8" single flute on my LR3.
The larger bit would presumably have a different recommended chip load, and would also need a different feed rate to maintain the recommended chip load… I’m not 100% sure whether the LR3 or LR4 could accommodate this feed rate. I would be interested to hear your experiences on using a 1/4" mill on either machine.
Do you have a link to a supplier of the O flute mills? And are they only available in 1/4", or are they also available in 1/8"?
First tried a 1/8" O flute only 6months ago to cut and pocket some polycarbonate https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BN5RWQ75, was trying to get smoother finish than what the 1/8" upcut leaves. Seems better, but I haven’t used enough to recommend the bit, or claim to know what I’m doing.
Have single flute carbide 1/4" upcut from V1E https://www.v1e.com/products/1-4-single-flute-carbide-upcut-endmill?_pos=3&_sid=62172cacf&_ss=r, partly because of the Fun with Aluminum that Jonathan has.
Also got a V1E 1/4" upcut bit after breaking a bunch of genmitsu 1/8" carbide single flute upcuts while trying to cut Alu in the past. Am improving my setup and balancing my settings better. But, my hope was that 1/4" would last longer, and have larger overall MRR per sec than 1/8".
Posted because am curious about others’ experience with o flutes with Alu after seeing a reddit post, video and chatting with AI. Knowing of suppliers folks are happy with would be great too. Ordered rando 1/4" o flute based on rando reddit post… Will share how that goes…
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The O flute bits that I see listed on various sites seem to have a wavy pattern on the cutting portion.
Is this 1/8" single flute from V1E also an O flute then? This is what I was using…