[mussersail]

I have a question concerning tooling and hopefully someone has a few ideas for me. I am having issues with drilling 5mm holes. I'm using the Pro4896 with a Hitachi M12 Router, Mach 3 etc. I'm using Mozaik cabinet software and for the drilling tooling I'm using a 5mm Whiteside uncut spiral bit. I checked with calipers and bit measures 5mm exactly, but holes I'm getting are 5.25mm. This makes shelf pegs a little loosey goosey, but more of a concern are the 5mm fasteners for drawer slides, Rafix connectors,..etc. There is no way in the program for me to use a 1/8 cutter as I have in VCarve to create the holes. Is it the melamine I'm cutting? Is it runout on the router, or should I be using some other sort of bit for the drilling function? I know I have used a bit that is more of a brad point drill for a line boring machine I used to have but will I be able to chuck this into a router? Help - any ideas would be appreciated. As I said with Mozaik, if there isn't a 5mm drill in the toolset list, it won't create g-code for cabinet that has 5mm holes. Thanks - Jim

[R-Carpenter]

Why not just use 5mm brad point bit? What's the slowest speed you can get on your router? Can you just specify drill point centers and the depth of the hole in Mozaik?

[mussersail]

I can't really specify centers, it's mostly automated based on 32mm construction but I can adjust depth,...etc.. After I posted initially I did go along the lines of your suggestions. I bought a 5mm bit, the type you use in line boring machines and an adapter for the 10mm diameter base, so you can chuck in router. I mistakenly purchased a left hand drill (thought it was right) but needed a right hand. Just as well though since the 100mm long bit was problematic for zeroing the tool without raising the whole mount on the machine. I ordered less long bits and right handed so I will be trying that soon. While I was playing with the wrong bit I did notice some visible wobble with the bit. I think with all my violent incidences of late with working out kinks of Mozaik that the shaft was slightly bent on router. This, it turns out, had more to do with my oversize holes. I changed out the router and with the 5mm spiral uncut bit I was pretty close to 5mm - slightly over in a few holes, but not anywhere where I was. I believe I can be absolutely precise at 5mm using the drills instead of router bit. Overall, I'm not sure Mozaik is set up for a CNCRP machine - it can be made to work but has taken lots of tweaking and mistakes. Partially I'm starting to believe a lot of this may have to do with me using melamine for all the test runs. This stuff is a pain to cut and stresses the machine pretty good. I don't use a lot of it generally, mostly plywood and mdf but we have been thinkings about using it more for lower cost closet and laundry room cabinetry. Question for all - I think switching to the spindle will help a lot with melamine, but am I wrong in my thinking? The "2 1/4 HP" Hitachi router just doesn't seem to have the power. I am going to take my free two hours help with Mozaik and try to work out the only remaining issue possibly - I'm able to adjust the cutting speeds and depths for all operations EXCEPT cutting Rafix connector holes. The machine plunges fast and violently to cut the 20mm hole, which is slightly scary but then it cuts a slot for fastener the full 3/4 depth - fast and hard - this has been the single most disruptive cutting operation. I could probably live without using Rafix fasteners so long as we just stick to our traditional cabinets, but for frameless it might be handy...

[R-Carpenter]

Well, Mach3 and CNCRP machine are only going to follow the G-code you are inputting, so I think the issue is with Mozaik or settings in the Mozaic. I am not familiar with the software but the Z travel speed has to be adjustable. The spindle CNCRP sells is quite nice but it isn't much more powerful than what you have. You could manually slow down feed in Mach3.

[mussersail]

I've slowed the speed down in Mach 3 and that helped a little. Are there more powerful spindles out there that would work with the CNCRP machine? I realize they make bigger and more powerful spindles, but is there a limit to what I should be considering here?

[KMD]

I've slowed the speed down in Mach 3 and that helped a little. Are there more powerful spindles out there that would work with the CNCRP machine? I realize they make bigger and more powerful spindles, but is there a limit to what I should be considering here?

I'm a small one man cabinet shop I have been running a 3hp techno spindle for 2 years now works great have had no problem. When I purchased the spindle I bought it with ceramics bearing for drilling at the suggestion of the dealer
I can run a 3/8 compression bit single pass cutting 5/8 melamine at 450 inchs per minute. I drill 5mm shelf and hardware holes and 1/8 pilot holes for case assembly with router bits.

if I was to go back and do it again I would jump to 5hp and get an atc. I use 3 bits to cut cabinets and it would be nice to have atc so it can process the sheets by it's self

I'm still waiting for my new style 48 96 pro machine so I can't comment on the machine from experience but did ask before I bought if it could handle 5hp and was told it should.

I'm interested to here how you make out with mozaik when my machine comes I'm planning on switching to mozaik to try and stream line the process a bit liked it on demo just need to make my machine bigger for full sheets

[mussersail]

Just curious KMD - what three bits do you use? Also interested in brands and experiences with the tooling. Changing tools is already getting old real fast, so I concur with the ATC. Maybe eventually CNCRP will come out with one. I'm a similar sized operation - have six employees, but we are a construction company too, so I'm usually the guy in the shop, with maybe one of my employees. We mostly use the shop for fabricating built-ins for a high end designer that funnels us at least 50% of our business a year. MOzaik is slightly awkward to use for our purposes, as it is designed for building kitchen cabinets. It's base cabinets are endlessly modifiable, so I have been learning how to do that. The learning curve in many ways is much higher than Vcarve has been, but, it's also different in that you are designing the room, and the program is figuring out how to cut all the pieces. That being said, I'm getting used to it and it will be an asset once I "personalize" it so it has the construction variables I use. I just had my free 1 hour instruction yesterday, which was helpful, and I loaded the newest version, which has a lot of features the one I was using didn't. Edge banding,..etc.. I'll keep you updated in a week or so, after I have my free 1 hour post-processor training ....