Engraving bit question

[Cassidy Nolen]

Hello all,

 

I am a teacher in Virginia that is a self-taught MasterCam user. We bought V7 years ago and it was clear as mud. The curriculum was to make a balsa wood car; not the best. Last year I dove into 10 and have had some great success getting students to use it. Now I want to move into milling metal on my Davinci 3 axis mill and have a question.

 

.125 thick sheet aluminum and I want to do engraving. Do you think I should be using a half round cutter (60 degree or so) or a ball end mill? Any thoughts on which will last longer?

 

Thanks in advance, I will try not to ask too many stupid questions...

 

Cheers,

Cassidy

[MACHINEMASTERG]

i use a ball mill with maybe .01 deep cut. Cuts cleaner 1/8 ball mill reved up max rpm

[crazy^millman]

And get some double stick tape and tape it to the table if it is a pretty big sheet this will keep it from lifting up.

 

HTH

[billystein]

i know many guys that use center drills to engrave. i tried it a couple of times and they last very well. better than engraving tools. i use ball cutters also. they work ok but leave thicker lines.

[Michael Sullivan]

I've used all of the above. I prefer the engraving bits (1/2 round & about 60 deg) because they are capable of finer lines. If you have small engraving the ball mills, center drills, etc. are much too wide. For larger engraving,It's all good.

[ruger2]

I do alot of engraving and my favorite is a center drill at 5000 RPM with a light amount of oil applied to the part. The smaller the lettering the smaller the center drill and depth of cut.

[Keith Graydon]

Engraving tool = finer lines possible.

 

Ball mill = more durable but line width varies more with uneven surfaces. For .125 high letters i dont go deeper that -.002 or -.003. with a .031 ball mill

 

Center drill = durable but better for larger line width.

 

for really fine stuff I use a diamond engraving tool. 0 rpm.

[DavidB]

I use these Carbide Engraving tools for fine lines.

Dixi

 

If I can use a small ballnose I will over the engraving tool they give much better tool life.

 

HTH

[heffy]

I use carbide 1/2 round 60 deg. cutters most of the time. If we need to fill the engraving with paintsticks, I use a 1/64 dia. ball end mill apx. .006-.007 deep so the paint stays in when you wipe the surface.

[Cassidy Nolen]

I really appreciate the input guys! I had some .025 aluminum I got at the hardware store and sort of experimented with the 1/2 round last week. I will try the ballend today and go from there. The issue I had with the 1/2 is it seems to "pull" the metal along. I think I will slow the toolpath and plunge speed down (keep hi rpm on the mill though) and see if it helps. The finish was rougher than I would have expected. Looked great in foam/wood, icky in metal!

 

Cassidy

[Cuda84]

Try some WD40, It works good on Aluminum. It will help with the finish.

 

[Todd Tracey from Fastech]

Have you tried the Techno Engraving tools? They work fairly well in aluminum and plastic. I agree with the WD-40 and the taping down the parts to stop pull up.