Digitalwoodshop
06-27-2010, 09:19 PM
Based on a post the other day I have hit upon some useful info in how we can Manipulate the Cut Quality by telling a little white lie to the machine.
I use my CW to cut FRP plastic for Fire Tags I make using a carrier board and the 1/16 end mill bit. I make my cut path by making the art using snap and a grid and rounded corners. I then make a carve region out of the path. Then I trace the carve region. I keep the trace and delete the carve region and the line drawing with the rounded corners. I found that when I changed sizes the rounded corners made the art get out of square and change. By using the outline of the carve region I eliminate that problem. I assign the 1/16 bit and a depth of .100
I made 2 mpc's with the same tags. The 1/16 inch bit .100 deep file cuts in 14 minutes.
This file uses 2 or more speeds to cut the tags lickety split.... Very Fast.... Slow in the corners with a slight pause and full speed. Slow down and round the corner for the rectangle tags. The pictures of the key fobs show all that speed changing lets a small thing like lost motion in the gearing and belts show up as slight imperfections in the cut.
So there is a price to pay for speed... and all the speed changes..... Slight imperfections.
The Second mpc file was assigned the 1/4 inch bull nose bit with a Cut Time of 1 Hour. This new found info from the other post is that with the 1/4 inch bull nose bit assigned the cut path will cut at a constant speed of VERY SLOW.... I am doing a cut path just assigning the bit with NO TABS because I place a strip of double sided tape under each row of tags. No tabs that can crack the plastic. Soon I will make a Vacuum Carrier board to make this quicker.
As you can see by the pictures, the Key Fob cut in slow speed in a 1 hour project has much smoother edges as the bit is in constant motion and the lost motion never comes into play.
Lost motion is the slop in the gearing when the gear train changes speed or directions. I believe the CW makes a lost motion check of the X when it does the bump into the forward roller during board measurement. Our friendly LHR Techs can chime in on this.
So this constant speed trick could help some of us that are thinking of cutting some harder material. Assign the 1/4 inch bull nose and set the depth of cut but use the 1/8 inch bit for the actual cut. The difference would be speed changes and a faster cut with assigning the 1/8 inch bit. Using the 1/4 inch bit in designer sets the cut to a slow speed... Good to know....
The first picture shows the key fob, the top one cut with the 1/16th bit and fast. See the slight defects.
I bet this trick would work using the Cut Path feature and the 1/4 inch bit in designer and a 1/8 inch bit in the machine.
AL
I use my CW to cut FRP plastic for Fire Tags I make using a carrier board and the 1/16 end mill bit. I make my cut path by making the art using snap and a grid and rounded corners. I then make a carve region out of the path. Then I trace the carve region. I keep the trace and delete the carve region and the line drawing with the rounded corners. I found that when I changed sizes the rounded corners made the art get out of square and change. By using the outline of the carve region I eliminate that problem. I assign the 1/16 bit and a depth of .100
I made 2 mpc's with the same tags. The 1/16 inch bit .100 deep file cuts in 14 minutes.
This file uses 2 or more speeds to cut the tags lickety split.... Very Fast.... Slow in the corners with a slight pause and full speed. Slow down and round the corner for the rectangle tags. The pictures of the key fobs show all that speed changing lets a small thing like lost motion in the gearing and belts show up as slight imperfections in the cut.
So there is a price to pay for speed... and all the speed changes..... Slight imperfections.
The Second mpc file was assigned the 1/4 inch bull nose bit with a Cut Time of 1 Hour. This new found info from the other post is that with the 1/4 inch bull nose bit assigned the cut path will cut at a constant speed of VERY SLOW.... I am doing a cut path just assigning the bit with NO TABS because I place a strip of double sided tape under each row of tags. No tabs that can crack the plastic. Soon I will make a Vacuum Carrier board to make this quicker.
As you can see by the pictures, the Key Fob cut in slow speed in a 1 hour project has much smoother edges as the bit is in constant motion and the lost motion never comes into play.
Lost motion is the slop in the gearing when the gear train changes speed or directions. I believe the CW makes a lost motion check of the X when it does the bump into the forward roller during board measurement. Our friendly LHR Techs can chime in on this.
So this constant speed trick could help some of us that are thinking of cutting some harder material. Assign the 1/4 inch bull nose and set the depth of cut but use the 1/8 inch bit for the actual cut. The difference would be speed changes and a faster cut with assigning the 1/8 inch bit. Using the 1/4 inch bit in designer sets the cut to a slow speed... Good to know....
The first picture shows the key fob, the top one cut with the 1/16th bit and fast. See the slight defects.
I bet this trick would work using the Cut Path feature and the 1/4 inch bit in designer and a 1/8 inch bit in the machine.
AL