blackhawk
11-07-2012, 08:36 PM
Hello All,
I just wanted to share what has been working for me to cut Dibond and acrylic sheets. I have a local sign guy that makes his own channel letters and I have started doing his cnc work over the past few months. I have a 2006 PRT Alpha with the PC router. Below is what has been working well for me. I am probably conservative on my cutting, but it works and my customer is happy. All of the info below is based on an 1/8" diameter cutter which was requested by my customer to give him tight corners.
Dibond - This stuff cuts very well. I am using an Onsrud 63-762 at 16,000 rpm and 1.5 ips feedrate. I have been cutting up to 6mm thick sheets in a single pass.
Acrylic - I have only cut 3 sheets of acrylic so far. My first try was with the cutter that I mention above for Dibond. I tried cutting 4.5mm thick acrylic in one pass. I made it about 2 minutes before the cutter snapped. My customer is not sure, but I am nearly positive that this is cast acrylic. I bought the Onsrud 63-712 cutter that is specifically for hard plastic. I am cutting .09 inches deep per pass at 16,000 rpm and 1.5 ips feedrate. My edge quality is good. I may be able to cut full depth but I am scared to break another $30 bit right now.
I also tried an Onsrud 56-041 2 flute straight cutter. It is made for hard plastics. The problem for me was that the straight flutes just packed the chips in that narrow 1/8" cut line. The edge finish was about half as good as the 63-712.
Anyway, hopefully this info will help someone else. Please post any experiences that you have had with these materials.
I just wanted to share what has been working for me to cut Dibond and acrylic sheets. I have a local sign guy that makes his own channel letters and I have started doing his cnc work over the past few months. I have a 2006 PRT Alpha with the PC router. Below is what has been working well for me. I am probably conservative on my cutting, but it works and my customer is happy. All of the info below is based on an 1/8" diameter cutter which was requested by my customer to give him tight corners.
Dibond - This stuff cuts very well. I am using an Onsrud 63-762 at 16,000 rpm and 1.5 ips feedrate. I have been cutting up to 6mm thick sheets in a single pass.
Acrylic - I have only cut 3 sheets of acrylic so far. My first try was with the cutter that I mention above for Dibond. I tried cutting 4.5mm thick acrylic in one pass. I made it about 2 minutes before the cutter snapped. My customer is not sure, but I am nearly positive that this is cast acrylic. I bought the Onsrud 63-712 cutter that is specifically for hard plastic. I am cutting .09 inches deep per pass at 16,000 rpm and 1.5 ips feedrate. My edge quality is good. I may be able to cut full depth but I am scared to break another $30 bit right now.
I also tried an Onsrud 56-041 2 flute straight cutter. It is made for hard plastics. The problem for me was that the straight flutes just packed the chips in that narrow 1/8" cut line. The edge finish was about half as good as the 63-712.
Anyway, hopefully this info will help someone else. Please post any experiences that you have had with these materials.