Deep Wood Cut

[Red (Unregistered Guest)]

How deep have people cut in solid wood?

I'm thinking of 1.5 to 2.5 inch thick solid wood being cut thru. Although not sure how hard a wood.

I think this kind of cut would just require patience, since it'd take some time. Any tips for this type of cut?

Thanks.

[mikejohn]

I regularly go 40mm (a touch over 1.5" ) deep in beech, oak, sycamore, usually with a 6mm (.25") bit.
What diameter bit were you thinking of for 68mm (2.5")? I feel it would need to be bigger than 6mm.
Depending on the hardwood, I go 4mm to 6mm deep per cut.
...............Mike

[marshawk]

We go about 1/4" per pass over here in the US.

I tried using metric once and immediately got a hankering for some tea.

I curled up with my tape measure and turned on a football game. (That's REAL football, not that "sissy" game you guys play. ;-)

[mikejohn]

Not watching the World series, then? Played only by teams from the US of A. Nobody can accuse you of parochialism

..............Mike

[marshawk]

Well, there IS Montreal, but we stopped counting them as a real team long ago...

[Red (Unregistered Guest)]

Thanks for the input. Well, before the fooseball. : )

The bit would be .25" if not bigger. Are you guys running routers or spindles? And at what speeds?

Thanks.

[bleeth]

I typically will cut through 6 or 8/4 lumber with either a 3/8 or 1/2" 2-flute spiral bit, step down 3/4" max but usually 1/2" and leave a tolerance of around 1/16" to clean up on the last pass, which depending on the piece and the job may have a "skin" left or bridges. I run a 5hp spindle.
This system which I use regularly is now being passed on after I originally got the info from Eric Lamoray, who is hosting the next Florida Bot camp in Orlando, after breaking off 1/4" bits in my quest to do the job in an economical amount of time.

Dave

[mikejohn]

Red
I run a router at about 20,000RPM, 2" (50mm)PS, two flute straight cut.

...............mike

[marshawk]

I guess it really depends on what we are doing. If we are hogging out wood in a clearing pass, .25" is as deep as we go. It really doesn't matter whether it is hard or soft wood. Hard wood breaks bits and soft wood tends to splinter unevenly.

We can *probably* slow the speed down to hog out more per pass, but that may lead to smoke and fire. I am more comfortable taking .25" quickly.

If we are doing a raster cut for a 3D file, we will plunge our 1/8" tapered ball nose to the full depth and run the first pass at .01. We just modify the toolpath for the first cut and speed it up after. We are only slicing .001" per pass after that, so it works. If there are any deeper plunges later in the piece, we just edit that pass, and so on...

Cheers!

Chip

[gene_marshall]

gene here,
Chip had a typo above...
.001 should be .005 or .01
Somehow I doubt we would make any money at a thousand passes / inch.

[marshawk]

Yes... one too many 0's.

I thought that last cut took longer than usual. ;-)

Chip

[Red (Unregistered Guest)]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm glad that was a typo.

In the same thought process.... If you cut a piece then want to round the edge on both sides. What is a good way of doing that?

Thanks.

[gerald_d]

A table router is the best for rounding over.

[mikejohn]

If your pieces aren't too large, a stationery shopbot makes a good overhead router.
..................Mike

[gene_marshall]

Red,
We ( most often) keep a roundover bit in a hand router

[Red (Unregistered Guest)]

That makes sense, and consensus.

Thanks.