Plexiglass Lettering

[jay_mack1@hotmail.com]

A project that I am working on:

Area clearing lettering out, starting from the center, 3" in height. I'm using a 1/8" single flute, high strength steel bit at 10,000 rpms, running at 2 inches per minute. It came out nice, but is there tooling that will work to give me a decent bottom finish or techniques to clean up the bottom, removing some of the tooling marks.

Thanks! StickMan

[billp]

Stickman, You might try tightening up your stepover, and slowing down the feed rate..the tighter the stepover, the less tooling marks. I start with 10% of the bit diameter, and work down from there...

[elcruisr]

You might check with Courmatt International. They have an O flute carbide plastics bit with a very flat bottom that produces really clean flats in plexi. You can get it in 1/4 or 1/8 or bigger if needed. Keep your RPMs low and a healthy feed and it should do well.

Eric
Balsys Wood Arts
www.balsys.com

[jay_mack1@hotmail.com]

Stepdown on 10% of an 1/8 would be .01 correct.

I was also cutting out some shapes with my shopbot, I thought I had the stepdown adjusted properly, I wanted to take roughly a 1/32 to a 1/16 at a time, but it did it in three cuts on 1/4" material. My stepdown was set at .03

[kerrazy]

Step Over not step down. It is the function of overlapping your previous cut.

Dale

[jay_mack1@hotmail.com]

Oops, Thanks Dale. Was thinking one thought typing another.

[artisan]

A MUCH faster way to remove "general" tooling marks in Plexi, is to simply flame polish the surface area with a small propane torch. This will remove 90% of the white frosted look that comes from tooling. Try it on a scrap piece first....I think you'll be pleasantly surprised....Good Luck....D