Andrew Ayre wrote: > Sorry if this is a bit OT, but I'm stuck. I have EMC2 running and my CNC > machine assembled and now it's time to try cutting. I want to focus on > wax and wood and start with some pine. I'm using a Dremel for the spindle. > > I've been reading the CNC forums and various websites but I cannot > figure out what kind of endmills I need. Can anyone give me some > pointers? Is there a beginner's guide on the web somewhere? All I want > to do at this stage is: > > - cut objects in pine > > - expect to break a few endmills so looking for cheap > > - want to avoid junk endmills > > - not sure when you would use a ballnose mill > > - difference between endmills for roughing and finishing > > I expect to be cutting parts that are perhaps 20 - 30mm on each side > with the smallest feature perhaps 2mm. My scrap pine for testing is 3/4" > thick so I guess I have to do some pocketing before cutting. Well, the Dremel's collet and speed steer you to a smaller size endmill. I used to get 1/8" 2 and 4-flute endmills in solid carbide for about US $3.00. They probably are more, now. I would buy them by the dozen at one of the eBay sellers like Reliable End Mill, I think they are now Relaibel Tool.
It may be in these materials, that standard Dremel router bits would work fine, these should be available at hobby shops, hardware stores, etc. In these sizes, you are not likely to find roughing end mills. Ballnose mills are good for profiling 3-D surfaces. You probably won't find junk in solid carbide. There were some true junk in HSS end mills with 3/8" shanks, in square blue plastic tubes with the size rubber stamped on a paper label. These were the worst crap China ever made, and I'm insulting the sight-impaired by saying they looked like they were hand sharpened by an 80-year old blind man with shaky hands! Jon ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source. http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
