Wondering if someone could give me some direction here.
I’m cutting 18mm MDF, using the 1/8" upcut endmill from V1E. Lowrider 4.
I’m only really interested in cutting parts from MDF, as I’m assembling a cockpit frame.
I’m trying to dial in my speeds and depth of cut settings. Currently doing 10mm depth, feed rate of 5mm/s. The speed dial on the Makita is around 2.5. These settings are OK, however i can see the router jittering and skipping occasionally.
Does anyone have some tried and true settings I can try?
This isn’t really how it works. Machines will vary in capabilities. I would review the milling basics page.
I will say that I’m more likely to swap those depth and feedrate numbers. I tend to run around bit width depth (3-3.5mm) at around 12-15mm/s on my LR3 at around setting 2 on my Kobalt. Most would consider that pretty conservative. Your LR4 should be more capable but we’re not at either machine’s limits here. In your case assuming you’re cutting all the way through, I’d take that 18mm thickness, add a mm for overcut. So, 19/3 = 6.33, so it would take 7 passes. So, I’d round that pass number down and use a depth of cut of 3.2 or 3.5 to do it in 6 passes at 15mm/s. So, that’s roughly 1/3 of your current depth per pass but 3x your speed. So, about the same overall speed but I think you might get better results. From there, I’d change one number at a time and experiment. I’m more likely to go faster than deeper in MDF/wood.
Technically, you should use a feed and speed calculator but I haven’t tried to optimize that.
(If anyone objects to my thought process here, please chime in. I’m still learning this myself but have been happy with my results.)
Sometimes this jittering happens. It can be a feed/speed issue or that the material isn’t attached to the spoilboard well enough so it’s basically vibrating. I don’t think the motors are skipping steps at those speeds unless you have a dull endmill.
I’ve read the milling basics page but it didn’t really give me what I was looking for. I was just trying to emulate some of the settings I’d seen Ryan using on a youtube video, where he was cutting much deeper and much faster, but I guess his machine is put together differently (read: better) than mine.
Check out this post from @Bartman from one of my topics, basically for the same reasons (feeds and speeds). His breakdown of chipload and feedrates greatly reduced my issues and gave me a better understanding that I was really just using the wrong bit too fast for the task (and the cnc for that matter) (2 flute 1/4" endmill, dewalt router → too fast for bit) and that using a single flute 1/8" endmill I was able to get a decent chipload/feedrate combo that worked well.
Feeds and speeds were a huge hurdle for myself when starting down. I started a “test chart” for myself to get a handle on certain bits and certain speeds vs material.
I think one step would be to follow what Jason mentioned of reducing your cut depth. Some guys around here have super impressive speeds with their machines, but what we never saw is how they climbed to those speeds through trial and error. Start conservative and make notes during operations on the chip load. If it’s making dust, chances are you need to boost its speed up, if it’s jittering and everything’s secure, probably best to turn it down.
Will be a good mix of depth of cut, speed and RPM. Faster rpm doesn’t mean better either, far from it
It also depends heavily on the wood. I know you said MDF only, so once that’s dialed in it should be fine.
General rule of thumb is: for hard wood depth is 1x diameter of the tool and more feed, for soft woods 2x diameter and a little slower.
I use the Sorotec App as a guideline and go from there, often playing it by ear. I with the Makita I changed the speed on the control while cutting pretty often until it sounded right and then noted down the settings.
Thanks everyone. I’m fine with ‘trial and error’ but I was just after a better starting point based on what some of you had experienced, which I’ve now got. I’ll see how it goes and make notes along the way.
I tell you, if one wants to be active, one mustn’t be afraid to do something wrong sometimes, not afraid to lapse into some mistakes. To be good — many people think that they’ll achieve it by doing no harm — and that’s a lie, and you said yourself in the past that it was a lie. That leads to stagnation, to mediocrity. Just slap something on it when you see a blank canvas staring at you with a sort of imbecility.
You don’t know how paralyzing it is, that stare from a blank canvas that says to the painter you can’t do anything. The canvas has an idiotic stare, and mesmerizes some painters so that they turn into idiots themselves.
Many painters are afraid of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the truly passionate painter who dares — and who has once broken the spell of ‘you can’t’.
Life itself likewise always turns towards one an infinitely meaningless, discouraging, dispiriting blank side on which there is nothing, any more than on a blank canvas.
But however meaningless and vain, however dead life appears, the man of faith, of energy, of warmth, and who knows something, doesn’t let himself be fobbed off like that. He steps in and does something
It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t turn out right, just trying is how you get better.
I like that quote. Keep trying! I would offer that there is a difference between fearless and reckless. Fearless is systematically testing the unknown feed and speed to see if it will work. Reckless is setting it to 100% the first try.
Is there a good “sanity check” for seeing if a bit is still sharp/sharp enough? I have been struggling with feeds and speeds for a bit, so I’m sure I’ve probably rubbed the bit too much at some point.
Obviously I can just feel the edge to check, but was wondering if any of y’all had tips or tricks.
I with the Makita I changed the speed on the control while cutting pretty often until it sounded right and then noted down the settings.