I’m looking at making a few surfboards and the end mills from V1 are pretty short. Mixed with the fact that you can’t plunge further than the carriage plate with the DeWalt 611, I figure I have a few options:
Get a longer end mill.
Modify the carriage to allow the router to sit below the rest of the components (i.e. stepper motor, bearing assemblies, etc), although the width of the router base will still get in the way.
Cut thin layers of foam/wood and then sandwich them together to make the board. This could also be mixed with flipping the work piece to cut from the opposite side as well.
A mixture of the other options.
I realize that getting a relatively long end mill will increase the moment on the carriage, decreasing the accuracy, but give that this request is largely directly towards foam components, I’m not really worried about it.
If getting a longer end mill is really the best solution, does anyone have any vendor recommendations? I’m in Canada, so if there are any here, great, but if need be I’m fine with purchasing them from the US as well. Just hoping to limit the cost of shipping.
Do you have a Lowrider or an MPCNC? If an MPCNC, how do you plan to patch the pieces together? Would thinner layers with an offset between layers be a necessary construction method or can you just butt glue thicker pieces together? What is the working height of your machine?
I’ve done some milling of 2" Foamular insulation boards from Home Depot for cosplay props, but I also selected a higher working height on my machine to make this possible…and live with the trade-offs of the larger height. I know nothing about surfboards, but my first thought would be double-sided milling with somewhat shorter bits. For 2" foam, I’d working out a fixturing system for accurate flipping of the foam and use 1/4" shank bits in the 50mm to 75mm overall length with 25mm to 35mm of cutting length.
Lowrider, preferably butt them up to eachother to save on machining time. I don’t remember the working height offhand, but I know I extended it at least a little bit. Something like 5" or 7", if memory serves, but I’d have to check when I get back.
Yeah, I think longer 1/4" bits is pretty much a must. The overall length of the 1/8" ones is tiiiny.
I recently switched routers and encountered this issue. With my old router I had made a custom holder which happened to allow it to operate below the deck, so it was always the lowest point. With my new Makita I used the common holder from Thingiverse, and the collet sits much higher. So we might need to go custom to get it lower.
The longest 1/8" bit I have found is 1/8 x 20mm x 45mm. I can stick it out enough to just barely cut about 30mm deep. If you find a longer one, please share. Longer 1/4" (or 6-7mm) are easier to find.
Easy solution
Will still cut 1.25mm depth of cut, and i would say still maintain decent feed speeds (i hand jammed my last cut in 8/4 stock with this, using the job function in repetier, can’t remember speeds).
I will say you need to be careful in climb vs conventional, use whichever way estlcam uses normally, trying to speed up by cutting in both direction ended in a broken bit, but I probably had 60-65mm of tool stick out. Bits probably cost 7 or 8$ shipped from China, probably 2-3 weeks to arrive.
