Mostly Printed CNC
POWER!
The replacement power supply arrived this morning so I fitted it and set about running some tests. Sure enough, lack of power was certainly a problem. The same bit was much happier cutting through the test material at twice the cut depth (0.2mm) and over twice the feed rate (80mm/min) but there was still occasional random (and destructive) tool chatter at these settings.
The next step was to try one of the other cutting bits which also arrived recently. The more open and aggressive cutting surface on these bits seems to be what’s required for this material - it’s now able to operate at Easel’s recommended feed rate (254mm/min) and cut depth (0.4mm). There was only one instance of minor chatter on the first layer which was barely noticeable and easily controlled by putting my hand on top of the Z axis.
Here are two of the finished test pieces showing how it looks immediately after cutting and after being cleaned up. Cutting time for each piece was 11 minutes:
Now that this router is finally usable, the next task is to design and cut some new plates for my quadcopter (the primary reason for building it in the first place). Watch this space and keep an eye on the new Quadcopter project too.
Posted on 09 August 2016
