[saimone67]

Hi guys;
I'm from France (so sorry if my english is not as good as your's ), and i'm there to find some informations about a project.
First of all, i'm a technician who install cnc machines for cabinet manufacturing (with ATC and drilling head), edge banders, saws with sliding tables, and so on.

I recently had the opportunity to get a 2.5-3D cam software, including the training (similar with artcam, alphacam, mastercam....)

But my problem comes from tools, and cutting speed.

I bought 2 ball end mill, 2 teeths, carbride, ø25 and ø8 from Leitz.
The spindle power is about 8KW, 24.000 rpm max.

I want to mill some pictures with relief on MDF pannel 19mm thickness, size 500x500mm

I made a rough in one step with the ø25 bit (maximum depth was 10mm), step 0.2mm @18000 rpm, 6m/min
The finish was made with the ø8mm bit, step 0.2mm @22 000 rpm; 6m/min also.

The result was not that good, i mean that the relief wasn't that pronounced, and it took me approximately 2 hours to mill the pannel (rough+finish).


My question is, could you give me some advice to mill 2.5D pannel faster, and get a better result?

I'm not removing that much material,so for me it could be milled much faster. (i would like to do it in half an hour)

The machine can easy support more working forces (1300w servomotor in X rack and pinion, 1100w in Y ball screw, 900w in Z with ballscrew, 8kw HSD spindle).
Total weight of the machine is 3700kgs.

Thanks a lot for your answers

[alan_3301]

You probably want a much smaller diameter bit for the finishing pass depending on the detail you require.
Can you post image examples of how it looked?

For 3d reliefs I would use a tapered ball nose bit. 1/4" bit diameter tapering to 1/16" at the ball nose.
You can use the same stepover so time shouldn't increase.
Also, with that bit you can skip the roughing pass, lower the feedrate for the first finishing raster line, (which will be carving out the most material)
then go full speed for the rest of the part, at 0.2mm stepover there will be little load on the cutter.

[saimone67]

Thanks for the answer Alan,
So, that's an example of the result that i got 2 weeks ago:

Attachment 252312

Maybe it's hard to see it, but for a good finish, the pannel needs a lot of sanding, i would like to get a better result.
And as you can see, i didn't remove a lot of material

Could you send me a link where i can buy those tapered ball nose bit please?
The most important point for me is to reduce significatly the working time

[ger21]

UNfortunately, 3D cutting takes a lot of time, and there's not a lot you can do about it.

What exact machine are you using? I've found that big industrial machines designed for nesting cabinet parts are not very fast at 3D cutting.

If you're roughing with a 25mm tool with a 0.2mm stepover, increase the roughing stepover to about 5mm.
Or, just eliminate the roughing as mentioned above and use a tapered ballnose to finish.

[alan_3301]

you can find them a lot of places, but I got mine from here:
Tapered 3D C arving Tools
CM404-0625-100B is the one I used.

How big is the piece in the picture? It looks huge, but the stepover marks on the bottom look bigger than 0.2mm
Also your model may not be in the best shape for relief carving, it looks more like a lithophane.
Faces are really hard to get a good relief.

[saimone67]

Hi Ger21
I'm using a european cnc similar to this one:

Centro di lavoro soluzione Ventose / Bloccaggi JET OPTIMA C21 Casadei Busellato

I may change in the future for a nesting cnc.

The milling time is directly caused by the tool, that's why i'm looking for "high speed" tools

Thanks for the link Alan,
The size of the workpiece is 5000x500mm.

I will change the way of how i shape the relief.
But as i said before, my main problem really comes from tools.

I will have aroud 15 models to make, i'm looking for a millingtime reduced by 4, initial time is 2 hours