Making a Michigan wall hanging

[mtrainer90]

Turning this 11 x 10 in piece of Red Cedar into a Michigan inspired wall hanging. The state and text were cut out on the FoxAlien 4040 XE-PRO. After a coat of sanding sealer so the end grain wouldn't absorb any resin or color, black Alumilite resin was poured into the cutouts with some white swirled through. After sanding from 80-1000 grit, the piece was finished with spray lacquer.

[jteneyck]

Turning this 11 x 10 in piece of Red Cedar into a Michigan inspired wall hanging. The state and text were cut out on the FoxAlien 4040 XE-PRO. After a coat of sanding sealer so the end grain wouldn't absorb any resin or color, black Alumilite resin was poured into the cutouts with some white swirled through. After sanding from 80-1000 grit, the piece was finished with spray lacquer.

That's really nice, but 10+ hours is about 9.5 hours longer than it should have taken.  20 minutes, max.  

John

[mtrainer90]

That's really nice, but 10+ hours is about 9.5 hours longer than it should have taken.  20 minutes, max.  

John

Sorry but I completely disagree with that. You will 100% break a long reach 1/16th endmill trying to do anything that fast.

[jteneyck]

Sorry but I completely disagree with that. You will 100% break a long reach 1/16th endmill trying to do anything that fast.

You do the bulk of the lake it with a 1/4" and/or 1/8" endmill; the 1/8" can run at least 70 ipm at 0.125" doc.  You only use the 1/16" endmill, if that's what's needed, for the cleanup the 1/8" can't get to.  I was running a 1.5 mm bit this morning on walnut and sapele at 35 ipm and 1.5 mm doc.  

The lettering would be cut with a 1/4" Vbit, which can run 100 ipm.  

I don't see the need to cut very deeply.  The Vbit defines its own doc based on how far apart the vectors are, plus whatever flat depth you set.  0.125 flat depth would be plenty.  The same for the lake.  But even if you wanted to go 0.25" deep, for whatever reason, that would be one pass with a 1/4" endmill, or two passes at more than twice the speed, two passes with a 1/8" endmill, and 4 for the cleanup in the corners with the 1/16".  

You don't need long reach end mills to cut 0.25" deep.  The 1.5 mm ones I have will cut 0.5".  The speeds and doc I listed above are for that bit.  If you use bits no longer than necessary, you can achieve much higher speeds.  

John

[Mike L B]

Hey John,
I gotta say....
You are an amazing wealth of information and well spoken.
It's great to have you here.

Mike

[jteneyck]

Hey John,
I gotta say....
You are an amazing wealth of information and well spoken.
It's great to have you here.

Mike

Thanks Mike.  All of us who have worked on wood (or anything, for that matter) build up a lot of knowledge if you do it long enough.  I've learned a lot of stuff from others here, so I'm happy to return the favor when I can.  Sharing our info. and experiences is what makes this a great place.  I just wish more people would take a little initiative and contribute something.  The postings are getting fewer and further between.  

John

[mtrainer90]

You do the bulk of the lake it with a 1/4" and/or 1/8" endmill; the 1/8" can run at least 70 ipm at 0.125" doc.  You only use the 1/16" endmill, if that's what's needed, for the cleanup the 1/8" can't get to.  I was running a 1.5 mm bit this morning on walnut and sapele at 35 ipm and 1.5 mm doc.  

The lettering would be cut with a 1/4" Vbit, which can run 100 ipm.  

I don't see the need to cut very deeply.  The Vbit defines its own doc based on how far apart the vectors are, plus whatever flat depth you set.  0.125 flat depth would be plenty.  The same for the lake.  But even if you wanted to go 0.25" deep, for whatever reason, that would be one pass with a 1/4" endmill, or two passes at more than twice the speed, two passes with a 1/8" endmill, and 4 for the cleanup in the corners with the 1/16".  

You don't need long reach end mills to cut 0.25" deep.  The 1.5 mm ones I have will cut 0.5".  The speeds and doc I listed above are for that bit.  If you use bits no longer than necessary, you can achieve much higher speeds.  

John

John, I am sure you know what you are talking about when it comes to your set up and projects but you are making a lot of assumptions about mine that are incorrect. My inlays are .4 deep not .25. The lettering is too small to use a 1/8 bit. The reason I use long reach bits is because I do a lot of inlays in the bottom of bowls in which I fully cut out the base and then do the same on a different piece of wood and inlay it. These are .75in pieces of wood there for I need at least a .75in bit. Since I already have one for my bowl projects, I just use the same one for my detail pass on things like this. 
Thats great that you run your machine and tooling fast but I will continue to run mine in a way that isn't damaging.

[jteneyck]

John, I am sure you know what you are talking about when it comes to your set up and projects but you are making a lot of assumptions about mine that are incorrect. My inlays are .4 deep not .25. The lettering is too small to use a 1/8 bit. The reason I use long reach bits is because I do a lot of inlays in the bottom of bowls in which I fully cut out the base and then do the same on a different piece of wood and inlay it. These are .75in pieces of wood there for I need at least a .75in bit. Since I already have one for my bowl projects, I just use the same one for my detail pass on things like this. 
Thats great that you run your machine and tooling fast but I will continue to run mine in a way that isn't damaging.

Why do you need to make inlays 0.4" deep?  When I cut stuff for a guy who did epoxy inlays, 1/8" was what I did most for him.  For my wood inlays, the typical depth is no more than 0.125". 

I guess you have no choice when cutting all the way through the bottom of a bowl, but I'd hog out the majority of it with a large bit first.  

You might want to consider switching to a V-bit for the lettering or a tapered ball nose endmill.  You can run both of them much faster than a tiny 1/32" bit.  You can keep the tiniest detail imaginable with a V-bit.  I run 60 degree 1/4" Vbits at 100 ipm.  That's the stock speed; I'm not running it faster than the manufacturer recommends.   The lettering on your sign is not small.  I would be surprised if a 1/8" bit doesn't fit for wasting out most of it.  The V-bit or ball nose endmill will get the rest.  You don't need straight walls, so there's no need for the little 1/32" endmill.  

I tend to run bits slower than the manufacturer recommends.  That's not a benefit to maximizing bit life, but I do it to get better finish quality at the expense of the bit dulling sooner.  Lots of folks are running 2 or 3X faster than me.  

Or just keep doing what you're doing.  

John

[J-W-P]

Your project does look very nice.

I think the most important point John is making is that you should be using at least two cutting tools for this.  Start with a larger diameter (1/4") end mill to take out the bulk of the material.  Then switch over to your smaller end mill to do the perimeter clean up.  This is a much more efficient use of your machine.  Not sure what software you are using but it should allow for using multiple bits for milling a pocket. 

Especially if you want to go deep, using the clearance bit method will greatly reduce your milling time.  Ten hours is a lot time for that size project and unnecessary wear on your machine and bit.  You don't have to run it fast, but that project shouldn't take more than an hour.

[EightFingers]

You do the bulk of the lake it with a 1/4" and/or 1/8" endmill; the 1/8" can run at least 70 ipm at 0.125" doc.  You only use the 1/16" endmill, if that's what's needed, for the cleanup the 1/8" can't get to.  I was running a 1.5 mm bit this morning on walnut and sapele at 35 ipm and 1.5 mm doc.  

The lettering would be cut with a 1/4" Vbit, which can run 100 ipm.  

I don't see the need to cut very deeply.  The Vbit defines its own doc based on how far apart the vectors are, plus whatever flat depth you set.  0.125 flat depth would be plenty.  The same for the lake.  But even if you wanted to go 0.25" deep, for whatever reason, that would be one pass with a 1/4" endmill, or two passes at more than twice the speed, two passes with a 1/8" endmill, and 4 for the cleanup in the corners with the 1/16".  

You don't need long reach end mills to cut 0.25" deep.  The 1.5 mm ones I have will cut 0.5".  The speeds and doc I listed above are for that bit.  If you use bits no longer than necessary, you can achieve much higher speeds.  

John

I’ve been doing cnc work since 2014 and I completely agree with you