Just wanted to share I did my first cut yesterday of the table file and it worked great. Had a few issues with the z axis being reversed, but found the answer on the forum. THen 2 setscrews came loose on the x and z axis. Retighted those and put a little locktite in. Now it looks to be working well! I've gotten some green Lowes brand fanfold, can't seem to fine bluecor anymore. Seems like the tool ripped around real fast and left pretty rough cuts initially. Feed rate was 500, so I slowly stepped down the rate to about 85 and it's much cleaner. I'm just using the tile cutter bit that came with the machine, so I know I need to do more experimentation with bits. Or maybe that cutter has worn out already. I cut several F22 files that came with the machine for this process, mostly they were on the green Lowes stuff. I'm not sure about that quality of that foam. Also Menard's has pink fanfold, that seems better with with foam quality, but real wavy, not flat at all! Related, I'm sure this is out somewhere, but has anyone have a chart or something that spells out at least as a starting point of foam/wood material thicjknesses vs/bit type/feed rates etc? Seems like that would be the Ideal first bit of info for anyone to have. I really bought the machine to cut 1/32 and 1/16 aircraft ply although foam is interesting too. I have a small business on the side that I sell laser cut model hydroplanes and model boat kits. I want to try to transfer some of the cut files for outsourced laser-cutting I created on AutoCAD to the Phlat. Hey Mark and Trish, fabulous machine! - Doug
Hey, just to add, of course I just saw the sticky on feedrates and all that after I posted. Good info! I inadvertantly added info to the chart-thinking it was a way to find out rather than to add info-my bad. You can remove that one fromn the chart!
Congrats on getting the machine going. Now the real fun begins. Yea, 500 is a bit fast for cutting If you do find good pink foam, be sure to check the thickness. The stuff I have is WAY smoother and more consistent than the blue I can get, but it is 3/8", not 1/4"(6mm) like the blue stuff. I got my PP to cut wood also, but find myself using more and more foam. It sure does cut the wood GREAT though. Multi-pass is your friend with wood; that and a 1/16" 4 flute end mill for ply, and the 1/16" bit from the bit kit Trish and Mark sell for balsa. I just looked at the table, and it seems OK, Do you still want me to remove it?
Thanks rccav8r for the info on the bits! Yeah, being a newbie I just ran the table file. The feed rate happeded to be set at 500 but I had no idea what that meant at the time, It was rippin through it! You can leave my table info if you want to. Although I may try a feed rate at 50 that Mark suggested for ff. I was still not quite satisfied with the cut quality on the green ff at the feed rate I entered in the chart. Like you say, the fun begins!
FWIF, I use 150 with a 1/16" bit on blue/pink FFF with great results. The edges MAY not be perfect, but close enough for me.
