I have a question about cutting 2 inch foam with the MK3. I know that the description now on the Phlatboyz website says that the new MK3 can handle 2 inch foam but cut 1 3/4 inch deep. Is this 1 3/4 inch cut limitation due to the length of 1/8 inch bits? If so, will the Bosch Colt attachment likely change this limitation and allow cutting all of the way through the 2 inch foam since it uses 1/4 inch bits? Thanks, Michael http://www.SlowBipe
Hello Michael, I did a few test with attaching a bit to the vacuum chamber of the flex-shaft gantry for height to see how deep it would go into the 2" foam and although the actual Z travel is 3 1/4" there are considerations like the pressure bar heights and the router collet and for the flex shaft one I am testing the 3/4" vacuum chamber to deal with, but from what I can tell you could do it but it would be very close with the flex-shaft attachment. With a new router attachment eliminating/reworking the vacuum chamber on the bottom I think it would work fine as that would save us some room. That being said one of the nice features of the Phlatprinter 3 is we can change pretty much everything on the machine. So in the future we could design a new gantry that we could bolt on and have more z travel too Mark and Trish
Mark, Thanks for the reply. What bit comes with the new MK3 that I ordered, and do you have other bits for sale that I might want to add to the order? I think I may want one of the 1/16" bits that you have for cutting 1/8" light plywood. Are there other places to order bits that work well for cutting foam and light ply, or have you already procurred the best ones that you could find? Thanks, Michael
From my understanding , any dremel bit will fit. On the foam cutting, the 1/16 grout remover bit is suppose to work well. I haven't seen what people are using for wood. This probably the ideal tool to use http://toolinghouse.com/ESC1003U4.aspx
Hi Michael, We have found a few bits that we like to use with foam on the Phlatprinters. The stock bit is a 1/8 tile grout removal bit and we also like the 1/16th version. We are including the 1/8th with the kit and sell a bit kit on our store, but at the moment have not ad the chance to post them. We will be adding them soon. The bit kit has a few more options to choose from. I am sure as we move forward with this machine we will find many different bits for many different materials that we will like o use and it will be nice to build a data sheet of what bit styles work best with what materials and the tools they are used with. Thanks Mark and Trish
For wood, I have used the /16" bit Mark and Trish sell, and a 2 and a 4 flute end mill from Enco. As for the end mills, as expected the 4 flute gives the nicest cut but at a slower feed rate than the 2 flute. All in all they all worked well enough for my needs. THe last full balsa kit I cut with mine I used the bit from Mark and Trish, It was not as smooth as the 4 flute, (still plenty smooth enough though) but I was able to bump the feed rate up. So yea, a chart of speeds and feeds specific to our use would be great.
