CNC Tooling Basics for Better Wood Cutting and Carving

The CNC Routers have revolutionized the act of cutting woods with their helpful features. This computer numerical controlled machine works independently with little help from an operator who inputs the necessary figures to get the desired cut. In addition, you should pay attention to another important concern for achieving better products. Bits and mills are the crucial parts of the router family, which you need to choose wisely to get the desired cut for your product. These are available in various shapes and sizes to perform a wide variety of work. Therefore, it becomes all the more important to have a clear idea about the parts you need to select for your work purpose.

The Importance of Bits and Mills

As you know, bits and mills work on the materials to offer you the cuts and designs required for the product manufactured at your end. Different types of mills act differently on the material thereby offering you various styles and textures of cuts. Moreover, the amount of waste generated also depends on the type of bits used, and it has an effect on the mills as well.

As an important benefit of using a router, it has the capacity to complete a heavy task within a short span of time but this is dependent on the mill size. Therefore, if you want to utilize your CNC Router with its full strength, then you must combine it with the appropriate bits and mills, to help your business thrive eventually.

More about Bits

Although CNC Router comes with added bits, yet it is always advisable to stick to two flutes, as it ejects the wastes properly and keeps the temperature of the mills at check. The spiral bits with two flutes had a wide range of diameter to choose from. Depending on the capacity of the spindle or router, it can be very big as a shaft or of a micro size. The smaller variety might break easily and can’t cut deep. Therefore, if you require deep cuts and a good amount of material removal, then you should go for the larger variety.

While shopping for the bits, one needs to remember to stick to the proper cutting length. Moreover, you would prefer your item to have a long life so that you can make the most of it without hassles. This requires you to be careful about the material of the concerned items. As a wise move, always go for carbide coated or carbide made products as they offer resistance and ensure a longer life.

Mills- Types and Uses

Depending on the direction of cuts of the flutes, you can divide the mills into three categories: compression, downcut, and upcut. All the three types have their own particular uses and can come handy at any point in time. A brief description of each type and its application will help you to decide and determine that which one you should choose and work with.

• Downcut: This mill offers a smooth top cut with no tears, and pushes all the wastes down and back into the mortise, which is being cut. You can go for this type of mill while dealing with furniture parts made of hardwood. It offers a steady grip on the part and a clean surface, which is helpful for a few products. If you go for shallow cuts at a higher feed rate, you will be able to prevent the mill from getting overheated.

• Upcut: This type of mill pulls the chips out or ejects the waste upwards while rotating, hence resulting in a smooth bottom cut. You can easily go for this type if you need to chop off a larger amount of product within a short time. For any general purpose, it can prove to be the ideal option. Moreover, you can also use it for roughing out areas during your sculptural work in 3D or for cutting MDF.

• Compression: This mill offers you smooth cuts at both the top and the bottom. The top part of the mill pulls the waste out, and the remaining part pushes it in. As a result, you get to experience the best of both the variety. Both the cutting flutes act according to the situation. For a clean top surface and deep cutting .260″ the downcut flute pushes down the top fibers and for a clean bottom surface, the side fibers are pulled back into a mortise with the help of the upcut flute. It is best for cutting thin plywood and other laminated materials. You can also work on solid woods using the downcut flute, but you need to run it faster than its upcut counterpart.

About Size

The size of these items plays a crucial role in the cutting process and depends largely on the type of material. For instance,

• For plywood cutting, it is good to settle with .375″ and .250″ compression variety. It is better to use larger mill but for cutting multiple parts with little space between them, the smaller size will be helpful.

• For hardwood furniture cutting, .375” downcut or .500” downcut are the chosen ones as they are stable and long enough to use.

• For fast removal of material for 3D carving and for cutting softwood, the.500”, .250” and .375” upcut variety is used.

If you have a particular mill type and you choose the size accordingly, then you will be able to enjoy both the procedure and the results equally.

To conclude, this is just an overview of the basic tooling concept, which might offer you a faint guidance about the crucial components cnc router bits of the CNC Router. You first need to understand the nature of the wood you are using; your work style and then find out which part will provide you with the best assistance and grab that. For best results, it is wise to approach OMNI CNC as it could provide you with the best CNC router machines to assist in your cutting process. Happy Cutting!

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