Sounds good, thanks for keeping us updated!
When I say faster spindle speeds, I think I took my router to setting 4 today when I was moving 1500mm/m. I have no way of being certain of the actual rpm but it sounded like it was enjoying the cut. When I was running at the slower speeds suggested in the basics post you have (480mm/m if I recall), router setting 2 seemed the most comfortable.
Sure thing! I’m having a blast!
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Cut a LOT of these things. Tried every setting I could.
Climb cutting just isn’t happening. Even with finishing passes it just never made it back to it’s dimension, even with a 480mm/m finishing pass, I guess that’s how much deflection is going on?
With conventional, things stayed really accurate. I ran my roughing passes .3175mm outside my mark followed by a finishing pass and everything stayed within a 10th of a millimeter. So being able to rough at 1500mm/m and 3.5mm doc and then do a single finishing pass at 480mm/m I had spot on dimensions.
I’m not sure if I call this a sweet spot for me right now cutting out mdf or practice some more, play with some other settings first. Not sure what else to play with based on my findings.
Maybe I’ll cut a table tomorrow?
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1/10th of a mm sounds pretty good to me.
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Well I’m cutting a new table! Feel good about what I’ve seen so far. I also got a new toy recently, the larger Harbor Freight dust collector and man what a difference. So much quieter and so much air flow than the shopvac. Now the poor shopvac can go back to being a shopvac.
The dust collector is setup for dual 4" hoses and even though I stepped it down to 2.25" shopvac hose, and then again to a 2" hose at the router (don’t yell at me guys) it’s still doing better than the shopvac was.
That being said, is going full 4" to the boot the most realistic answer? Is there a more realistic answer? Would like to do the reasonable thing here.
Pics cause I have them:
Maybe should have done this as a DM, so my apologies up front.
I don’t have an opinion on your question, I mean I could, it would be worth 2 cents.
But with your new toy, probably to early to tell, but…
- Have you seen the need or thought about doing the impeller upgrade?
- Do you have any thoughts about losing the bag, and going with a MERV style filter?
- Have you measured the db level?
Sorry for being so inquisitive, but I’ve been in conflict for a bit on what I want to do for a better DC system. Correctly have a dust deputy, and love its performance with the shop vac, could stand to do without the screaming shop vac. Currently working on a slow build LR3, and anticipating longer run times, figured the shop vac will be updated to something better quickly.
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I have the same big HF dust collector, and I have not done an impeller upgrade (don’t know much about it), but I did swap out the air bag filter for a nice tall pleated-filter canister (aka the MERV style filter). I also used my LowRider (back then it was a v2) to create an MDF + buckles adapter to connect a regular large trash can (with regular bags) to the bottom. I pre-cut some “view slots” in the side of the can so I visually see how much saw dust / chips are in the bag, so I know when to change it.
https://www.printables.com/model/564652-diy-cnc-money-saving-trick-for-dust-collection-use
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@DougJoseph took the words out of my mouth! In my short 2 day experience with it, I don’t see a need for the impeller upgrade, not yet atleast. It’s such an improvement from the shopvac (and I had a decent one) that I can’t fathom the difference the impeller upgrade would do yet.
A better filter and Doug’s trashcan mod are on my list for sure, but I think I’ve got to atleast get a little dust on it first before I start upgrading the thing.
I also want to figure out the plumbing for the rest of the shop too before working on upgrades to it. I’ve got a table saw, miter saw, planer, and some other stations that it would be nice to plumb in.
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I should add. Completely stock, this is super serviceable. It doesn’t need any upgrades especially coming from the shopvac cyclone situation. I just need to figure out what hose size makes sense for plumbing in my router for instance
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So I feel it’s opinion based, but my standard is:
- Largest size possible (but no reason to increase larger that the fan intake) to the tool.
- Blast gates as close to the main truck as possible, to minimize the branches not being used.
- Reducers and flexible hose, (minimal length of flexible) as close to the tool as makes it easy to use / function.
So no, I personally don’t think you need 4” at the boot. But take the 4” as close to it as you can.
But I also don’t feel there is a “wrong” answer, as long as you are getting good pickup, and aren’t starving the impeller of air.
There will be (or should be) other opinions. 
And there’s plenty of videos on the tube, talking the finer points of tight 90’s (no), sweeping 90’s, 45’s, wye’s, metal vs metal duct vs PVC, grounding or not, etc. In case it’s a rabbit hole you’re looking for.
But that’s my 2 pennies.
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Please, go off topic in public! We all want to know what questions people have and what the answers are. Who knows when that answer is going to help someone in 3 years when google sends them here.
I am positive there are 10x as many people that view the forums than actively participate. One of them has the same question you do.
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Am I not doing myself any favors by using 1/8" endmill? I mostly see myself breaking down plywood, lots of slotting cuts. Would it behoove me to step up to a 1/4"? What kind of benefits/drawbacks would one find doing that? I imagine it allows for easier chip removal? Less deflection? CNC world has way more variables than I think I was prepared for 
I did the impeller upgrade. For me, it was worth it. Whether it is worth it to you is going to depend on your piping. I intend to have it extending all over my shop, etc, so I wanted the extra air flow. I probably wouldn’t have done it if I was just using it as a portable unit.
It will increase the CFM noticeably, and there are a few YouTube videos where they measure it and give hard numbers. I didn’t measure it, but I can feel the difference.
I have 4" run on the ceiling to the center of my table, then drop a 2.5" hose down to the machine. Works great. Very little makes it outside of the dust shoe
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1/4” resists deflecting better than 1/8” - and could have better speed without sacrificing accuracy. For a lot of profile cuts it’s what I use. I switch to 1/8” when I need finer details (smaller radius corners).
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That might be one of my future updates then as I start plumbing in the rest of the garage.
Maybe I’ll keep it at 2.5" then, a heck of a lot lighter than 4" and a LOT cheaper and easier than running 4" everywhere.
Might just be on my next shopping list to give a try! Is your 1/4" single flute upcut or something different?
I have some one flute 1/4” endmills and some two flute. There’s a lot of love about the one flute. That allows there to be a really nice wide pathway to get the chips out.
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That sounds good to me! I’ll add some to my cart and give it a whirl, thanks so much!
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A 1/4" bit takes a substantially larger bite. Any savings you might gain by the slightly more rigid bit is lost to the larger bite you need to take until you get to a really fast pocket. You are much much slower in a slot though.
I highly recommend using 1/8" for slotting.
We are not using 4ton cast iron machines, if you are flexing a 1/8" bit in wood or plastic the CNC is surely moving far more.
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Also the cutting edge speed increases with radius so a 1/4" bit is requiring even slower RPM of our already too fast routers.
We are built for 1/8" and can use 1/4" when you are doing large pockets.
Thanks can be a bit different for metal, or extra soft material (foam).
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