- #MESHCAM 6 HOW TO SPECIFY RPM FULL#
- #MESHCAM 6 HOW TO SPECIFY RPM SOFTWARE#
- #MESHCAM 6 HOW TO SPECIFY RPM FREE#
#MESHCAM 6 HOW TO SPECIFY RPM FREE#
I have been using other free ones that do the same thing:įurthermore, generally my machine is not rigid enough to go above what I have it set to. When I pay for something, I expect it to be mine. I looked into it but the 'subscription' model is something I will never give my money to. 5000rpm with 800mm/min feedrate and 0.25mm depth passes with the plunge rate at a very slow 75mm/min as this is where the machine struggles the most (when it goes vertically down like drilling for each new pass). A good compromise was something like a 5/32 inch (~3.9mm) HSS 4 flute end mill. This was very valuable and despite some broken cutters, a good combination was eventually found.ģmm cutters were a bit fragile and prone to breaking, with 6mm almost invincible. The aim was to get a nice metal shaving cut at the fastest possible speed. With spindle rpm at only 5000rpm, I jogged the cutting bit down into into the aluminium about 0.5mm and then manually moved it around at varying feedrates.
![meshcam 6 how to specify rpm meshcam 6 how to specify rpm](https://miro.medium.com/max/962/1*-FshfjxZwPcpuPEPh3rHOw.png)
Cutting multiple passes at partial depth is also the norm.Įxperimentation continued but by controlling the machine manually. Too much rpm or too slow feedrate and everything just rubs and gets hot, too little rpm or too much feedrate and the bit tries to take too bigger piece and is likely to snap or at least chatter.
![meshcam 6 how to specify rpm meshcam 6 how to specify rpm](https://content.instructables.com/ORIG/FQ1/PKZB/IXAQ4L5Q/FQ1PKZBIXAQ4L5Q.png)
The bit should be taking a neat scoop out of the work piece on every rotation.
![meshcam 6 how to specify rpm meshcam 6 how to specify rpm](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5GYzLb2Is5I/maxresdefault.jpg)
I spent the night reading up on milling alloys and learnt that spindle speed and feedrate should be matched so that nice waste chips are being produced by the cutter. A second pass with a spray bottle of water to cool and lubricate the bit was needed to free the part. Unfortunately this yielded a terrible result, with the cutting bit rubbing on the aluminium so much that everything heated up and the aluminium melted around the cutter.
#MESHCAM 6 HOW TO SPECIFY RPM FULL#
This meant a full depth cut, really slow. The first attempt approached the challenge in the same way as how I have been cutting 3mm acrylic sheet. A toolpath was then generated using Meshcam. The design is a simple gear generated with the free involute gear plugin in SketchUp. The test material here is 2mm aluminium plate left over from another project. I have a product I designed a couple of years ago that cost me $700 (via laser cutting), which I figure I could make for <$100 with the router. One of the main reasons I wanted the CNC router was to experiment with cutting sheet/plate aluminium. At the deepest point only 3mm is being removed, and this high quality cutter went through the melamine panel with ease. Spindle speed 2400rpm, feedrate 1000 mm/min, plunge rate 500 mm/min. In Meshcam, all that is needed is to tell it the length/width of the resulting cut, the depth of cut and whether the dark or light parts form the highest points of the 3D surface.Īfter the height map has been generated, Meshcam can also apply a filter to smooth it out before cutting.Ĭutting was configured so that the tool would go back and forth in parallel, horizontal passes 0.5mm apart, with a solid carbide round nose ball mill. Apart from taking 3D STLs, it can also take 2D images and generate a 3D surface by turning the light and dark regions into high and low areas.
#MESHCAM 6 HOW TO SPECIFY RPM SOFTWARE#
Meshcam is the software I use to generate toolpaths (just like Slic3r for 3D printing).
![meshcam 6 how to specify rpm meshcam 6 how to specify rpm](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JYIMsBxRBEU/maxresdefault.jpg)
I will detail the software I use at a later stage. The following are overviews of some of the early experimental cuts I've undertaken using the router.