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Surface finish when 3d machining
Hello all,
I am working on a project that involves 3d cutting a channel 17mm wide, 7mm deep with 3mm rads in each corners with the same size rads at the top of he channel. The channel will be a square with r200 corner sections. the material is a soft a relatively soft plastic that usually gives a good surface finish. i have spent the last week trying to cut this profile but i keep getting score marks in the finished parts. I have been using a 6mm ball nose cutter with spindle spped of around 19000rpm, feed rate of around 14000mm per min. i ended up cutting it out of mdf in the end and finishing it by hand with sand paper, ideally i want to make it out of plastic but i need to improve the finish. any advise would be helpful. The passes in 3d cutting were .25mm and set with optimized cutting.
Re: Surface finish when 3d machining
What kind of plastic is it? What sort of mill or router are you using to cut it? When you mention "score marks" - what are those? Where do they appear? What is the intended function of this part?
Some kinds of plastic are just inherently difficult to cut cleanly. Material can melt onto the cutter, or the stuff can vibrate so the cutter can't cut it cleanly. Is this starting out as a solid block of plastic, or are you starting from a long narrow curving piece of it, as illustrated?
Have you thought of cutting the piece in reverse, into a piece of aluminum, and casting plastic into it?
Re: Surface finish when 3d machining
As You describe, I would do this as "profiled sides" - You have one profile, that You can add to One "Lead-Geometry" - (You do not tell which Machine - but this is the most effecient way, to make the Machine move fast around the Part....)
Re: Surface finish when 3d machining
Quote:
Originally Posted by
camnerd
As You describe, I would do this as "profiled sides" - You have one profile, that You can add to One "Lead-Geometry" - (You do not tell which Machine - but this is the most effecient way, to make the Machine move fast around the Part....)
Thanks for the reply guys, I did consider doing the channel with profile on each side. I think I will try this next time. Would you recommend using a ball-nose cutter or straight cutter?
yes i agree the efficiency of 3d cutting this profile is very bad, i am running this on a biesse klever with a 10x5 vacuum bed.