Hi Guys,
I need some help from the experts!!
I have been maching some MDF moulds for a model that a friend has designed. I am using a home built Rockcliff Model A, Mach3 to run it and Vectric 3D to generate the G-Code for the moulds.
Iam currently using a 10mm Radius Bit for the rough cutting and a 3mm Ball Nose for the finishing cuts.
The rough cutting seems to be fine, (800mm/min, 3mm pass depth and 33% stepover, cutting along the X-Axis) see photo IMG_2991.jpg.
The finishing cutting (800mm/min, 1.5mm pass depth and 9% stepover, cutting along the Y-Axis) seemed to leave some ridges, which I put down to using a Radius Bit for the rough cuts.
I gave the part a number of good epoxy resin coats, using a hot air gun to wick the resin into the MDF, until I ended up with quite a bit of excess resin on the surface - more than enough to fill the ridges.
I re-ran the finishing cut and have ended up with more ridges - see photos, IMG_2992.jpg and IMG_2993.jpg.
Does anyone have any clues as to what is causing them? Is it the 3mm tool flexing? Is the feed rate too high? Could the part be moving slightly on the machine bed? Is it something else?
Please help,
Martin.