Testing 6 Different CNC Bits to Cut/Mill Cast Acrylic with my 3018 PROVer

[@CreativeRob]

The Dallas city scape looked so rad!

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thanks Bro!

[@jh6060]

Agreed and blue is a great color for it

[@gamecaster5002]

I love the fact that you said Christmas was coming up. And you said you had to make presents, not buy them. love that idea. I made my son a plane on a scroll saw the other day, the smile was ear to ear. I only got it a few days ago. there is no better gift then one you have made yourself.

[@D.E.Hammer]

It was my parents who installed that in me. Halloween, my dad would not let us buy costumes, we had to make them every year. We made TMNT shells out of carboard one year. They were not going to win any awards, but it sure was fun building those with my Dad. For Christmas my Mom would always have some sort of craft we make for relatives. So I just try to carry and pass that on with my family.

[@mattgoodnight5386]

This is gold. Thank you for testing and posting. I'm looking to do some acrylic and looks like you have done the hard research for me.

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thank You!

[@starflexthe2nd]

Hit a goldmine of information, thanks so much. Was using a v-bit supplied by my machine with some new bits on order as I recently got my machine and there was melted acrylic on the sides, nothing a sanding won't fix, but now I know which bit is best.

[@timothymaggenti717]

Thanks so much, well done. That sign was fantastic, nice job Hammer.

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thank you! It was a fun sign to design and build.

[@babbagebrassworks4278]

This info just bumped up doing this on my 3018 to the top of the list, thanks. Been working on cutting wood bases, now I know how to cut the signs.

[@lasseb5036]

thank you very much for sharing your knowledge! can the same concepts and routing bits be applied to a manual woodworking router?

[@D.E.Hammer]

I have done it on my longmill which uses a hand router, so yes it will. Not sure of the results when doing it by hand.

[@Mitch3D]

The Dallas skyline looks awesome. It's amazing what the 3018 can do with the right tooling.

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thank you. It is amazing what a 3018 can do, it has done more than i expected and then some.

[@MrBhudon22]

Thanks for taking the time to analyze this

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thank you for watching!

[@joemartinson1826]

Great video. Thank you for making this.

[@angelgegege]

Thank you for such great video 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼😃

[@rickcperry]

Thumbs up! Great video to help others save time and money on their decisions on tooling

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thank You!

[@conormcmenemie5126]

EXCELLENT. That was a really useful test and analysis which we all can benefit from. Perhaps contacting the manufacturer with your results may allow them to hone their product. Thanks again from Edinburgh, Scotland.

[@willa5060]

Great video man thank you

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thank You!

[@sauletto1]

Good stuff ! The 6 way video was spectacular !

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thank You.

[@CantRetire1]

Have you done any "3D" carving of cast acrylic? I'm wanting to try some 1/4" white cast for some lithophane and need some recommendations for bits, feeds, and speeds.

[@D.E.Hammer]

I did a long time ago, with so so results. I would recommend to hog out as much material as possible with an uncut bit as you can. Then test with a v bit and ball nose to see which one will give you the best result.

[@gamecaster5002]

thank you so much for spending the time to make this video. its help me out a lot. I love the Dallas art it's beautiful.

[@D.E.Hammer]

Your welcome and Thank You!

[@ravendarkcloud]

As a former production machinist (back injury ended that), I can tell you that you should try a 4 to 6 flute nitride coated endmill. I have cut many acrylic parts that way with great results. we also didn't remove the protective paper 'till the cutting was done. I got myself a 3018 on the way and cant wait to get going with it. I like the 6 flute as it has a 45 deg helix angle on the flutes and did a better job of preventing chip buildup in the endmill. I do like this vid as it gives me insight on the 3018 as I am more acquainted with fedal and hass. Have you tried a drip tube or any other form for cutting / cooling liquid?

[@D.E.Hammer]

For this vid I wanted to use bits that most hobbyist and newbs would use or already had so they could start cutting cast acrylic. What I find interesting in what you are saying is that a lot of people on the Forum groups I am on say to use a 0 Flute for cutting acrylic and stay away from the multi flute. I guess I am going to have to get some 0,4,6 flute bits and try them out on the 3018. As for removing the top paper while cutting, just had so many issues with it gumming up the bit and leaving a residue on the side of the acrylic. So it saved me lots of time in clean up. No I have not tried any kind of cooling, as I would have to build a custom set up and I need to finish the projects I have going before starting that.

[@ravendarkcloud]

@@D.E.Hammer Keep in mind this was on a Fedal 4020 (40"x20"x17") commercial mill. We had coolant going too.

[@endonesia]

This is a super informative video, and consider this was 3 years ago, this is probably a long shot. But I had a question, im looking to cut acrylic of a similar size in the video (2-2.5"), and was wondering with your settings, how long on average it takes to cut something of that size from start to finish?

[@donochetti2177]

Great information! I've upgraded from a 3018 to a 750x750 workbee, very very happy. I have to look into drag bits as your results were awesome.

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thank you, and I think you will like those drag bits.

[@antariuswolfonso8035]

Heyas. Thx for the Video. I just startet with acrylic Designs and have thousands of ideas. So i found your channel and it was absolut amazing to see your Signs and how u made them (sorry for my bad english - me from germany....). I am almost in my testings and last week i try to cut 5mm several acrylic plate. Wow it was horrible :-) meltings broke the bits ... argh! So i bought Single Flute Wolframcarbid bits (3,175 mm x 15 mm ) and it works fantastic- i use the same settings for the cutting. And the best... the acrylic was very clear at the cutside... now i am waiting for the delivery of the spring-loaded drag bit (and man! just translate this to german and fins such a bit....) - but ebay was helpful *gg So many thx to you for all the work u do and the suggestions for my own work with my little 3018pro :-)

[@D.E.Hammer]

You are going to love the Spring Loaded Drag bit. It gives you way better detail. Thank you so much for watching!

[@antariuswolfonso8035]

@@D.E.Hammer OK this is really impressive. I have my spring loaded bit since last week and made a map from ireland for my daughter. Damned looks this good. Thx for the inspiration :-)

[@manuelballesterosdominguez7475]

Hola yo me inicio y me gustaría hacer lámparas de acrílico tengo fresa de 1filo de 3.1. Y de 1.5 que velocidad rpm.y que velocidad de bajada y profundidad las tendría que usar

[@brappineau4161]

For fine details. V-bit that came with the machine was melting the plastic at 1mm (.2mm pass). Tip broke and the rest of my letters actually came out better. What depth is ideal to capture edge light, but avoid melting?

[@D.E.Hammer]

I use a spring loaded drag bit now and it is only 0.1mm depth of cut. The etching is picked up great by the light. You do not need a big depth cut for the light to catch. I did the below on my LongMill. I just did some testing with a 60 degree vbit, contor cut on Text 1 pass at 0.3mm it left acrylic chips in the cut. On a pocket cut it left chips on up until the last couple of outer laps of the cut, but by the end it cleared 90% of the acrylic chips out. So my conclusion is on the 20mmX20mm square test i did, and text, it did not have enough time to cool or the acrylic did not have the room to eject enough so it melted back. Do a test at 0.1mm or 0.15mm per pass and see if that happens. The broken tip maybe ejecting more acrylic out, so it's not melting back.

[@swamihuman9395]

- Good job. - Thx.

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thanks for watching!

[@gerritvisser]

Thank you for the pragmatic comparison of the cutter styles. The usual advice is to increase the feed-rate if the cutter has more flutes. E.g. 3 flute would be approx. 3x the feed rate. Too slow and the cutter will rub, and not clear out the chips as well. I am about to try engraving some plexiglass, it will be interesting to see if it behaves the same as aluminum, where those feed-rate rules seems to help with cut quality.

[@D.E.Hammer]

Yes, I still need to do some feed-rate tests with the 1 flute & 3 flute. The issue I ran into with my machine is if I get up over the 315mm feed rate I would start breaking bits when I was testing my Nano-blue & Titanium end mills. So it will be interesting to see what these will do.

[@gerritvisser]

@@D.E.Hammer Broken bits are an opportunity to learn how to make d-bits , I am getting some practice in that myself. :-)

[@snowwolvesproductions]

@@gerritvisser d-bits? I'm new...

[@gerritvisser]

@@snowwolvesproductions Hi, check out Stefan Gotteswinter, he demos grinding d-bits in a few of his videos. d-bits were traditionally used with engraving pantographs such as Deckel and Alexander. Very useful for custom shapes. I have an Alexander 2CG, which I use for grinding all kinds of cutters and doing four-facet grinds on drill bits.

[@snowwolvesproductions]

I heard someone say an O flute works well... I'm new so I have no idea. Thanks for testing these. I just got my 3018 yesterday. I noticed in the manual that there is a laser module... Have you or anyone on here gotten one? I'd like to cut some plastic or acrylic parts on one. Thanks!

[@D.E.Hammer]

I am new and still learning myself. "O" Flutes do work well, just trying to get the right speeds and feed for it on a stock 3018 prover dialed in. So far i get a lot of chatter and miss steps. As for laser, to really cut clear acrylic you will need a CO2 laser not a diode laser. Some have said they spray paint one side of clear acrylic for it to cut, but have yet to see a video or picture of it being done that way.

[@FinnnN24]

thank you sir help me a lot !

[@D.E.Hammer]

Most welcome!

[@CesarRodriguez-zi2md]

what type of acrylic do use is there a specific brand or thickness ?

[@D.E.Hammer]

You want cast acrylic. I use 3mm and 6mm thickness, just depends on the project, for the led lights 3mm. As for brand I have gotten some from amazon. If it's paper mounted then very good chance it's cast acrylic. If it's plastic film covered then very good chance it's extruded. Recently I have been getting my acrylic from makerstock, but there are several other acrylic providers on the web.

[@Berghiker]

I want to make accurate PCB's with perfect aligning holes. Not sure if an end ball mill or flat end mill is better for drilling 0.8mm holes.

[@D.E.Hammer]

I have not cut PCB, but my first try would be to go with a Flat End mill. If you have a spare PCB board to test it on I would try that first and see how it works out.

[@Arweebs]

Thank you for your explanation, this video help me a lot. Could i ask you some thing? i'am using the endmill nano 2mm, but i don't get it why the acrylic sticks to the endmill and forms clumps when I use it for cutting... I hope you can help me and sorry if my English made you confused :)

[@D.E.Hammer]

Your welcome and I hope this answer helps. The main cause of that issue is the use of Extruded acrylic, it has a low melting point. So it melts the chips of acrylic you cut and gums up your bit. What you want to look for is Cast acrylic, it has a higher melting point. With Cast acrylic I have never run into issues of gumming up my bits. On smaller machines it can be hard/impossible to cut Extruded acrylic. There are several reasons for this, but they just do not have the rigidity in the axis to increase the feed rate enough or the spindle just does not have enough torque. So getting the balance to keep the heat generated low enough to not melt the acrylic and eject the chips far enough out can not be achived. I have heard people say they spray a soapy solution or blow air on it while it's cut, but I have not seen a video demonstrating this and from my attempts has not worked.

[@Arweebs]

​@@D.E.Hammer thank you for your answer and solved my problem. Good luck always for you. thank you i really appreciate it

[@giostourista]

QUESTION.. what tool do i need to make a 3d on acrylic? i tried everything but never succeed...

[@D.E.Hammer]

That is something I will have to look into.

[@giostourista]

@@D.E.Hammer I am glad you want to help..its very important for me and my business.. when I tried ball noses, tapered etc never worked..always leave material stuck on the polycarbonate.. not melt..just stuck..I even tried engraving tool..nothing.. trying to make some molds

[@anonitachi6966]

Excellent, dude. Many thanks for this. I got a 40w diode lazer hoping to cut acrylic only to find out that I'd need a co2 laser. Gutted as I have a bunch of those led bases that I was wanting to make shapes for. Then, I attempted a few carvings and the plexi kept melting and bunching on the end of the bit. Like, every few seconds. I was stuck but now: 1. Bits can cut acrylic and I may not need a co2 laser! 2. Material matters (but maybe perspex is just not millable) Cheers man Love from Ireland 🤘 🇮🇪

[@DTownDesigns]

Clicked on the link for the dallas file and it wasn't available....Anyway I can purchase that from you? Thx

[@mohammadrawshdeh7579]

Hello sir. I want your advice.. am planning to start a business.. do you advice to use cnc router for engraving on acrylic .. example ( engraving personal photos.. logos.. ets) And thnx again And what is the best bit for engraving clear photo

[@momb1107]

Stumbled across your videos when searching for old school friend who seems to have vanished John DeHammer lol... Interesting videos

[@D.E.Hammer]

Well I hope you find him, but I am not John. It is funny as my 20 year HS reunion is coming up and I am getting a lot of people reaching out, but they are calling my brother for some reason.

[@melissawallace1573]

What spindle motor are you using? Stock or the 20000rpm?

[@D.E.Hammer]

I am using the stock spindle.

[@willa5060]

Ok so today i used that endmill nano blue with 3mm acrylic, first time, tried 1mm 1.2mm and they broke , 1.5mm didnt break but they all melted the acrylic and made bad cuts. So whats bad ? The burs or the acrylic sheet? Im newbie first time , also cant get the depth right, i measured the sheet thickness and zeroed the axis right but still go deeper or shallower , thnx for the help

[@willa5060]

Speed was at 12k

[@D.E.Hammer]

So first thing is, are you sure it's cast acrylic? Was it paper face covered or plastic? Secondly what is your feed rate and depth of cut? Third just want to confirm the machine you are using is a 3018? If it's melting and gumming up it could be pulling on your z down into the material. Causing it to cut deeper. Melting is happening because your generating to much heat so you can try and lower the rmp on your spindle and speed up your feed (10 to 20mm per minute at at time). Create a test file with a 10mm line that you can experiment with. Another thing you can try to cool down the heat generated is blowing air at where it is cutting or lightly spraying it with some water soap mixture. I have not had to do the water soap, but others have and swear by it. In regards to the smaller diameter bits, yes they can break, but do work if you get your settings dialed in. I would work with the larger diameter bits first to get it dialed in, then move to the smaller bits. If it is extruded acrylic, you just might keep getting the same results. If you got it from home depot or lowes 99% chance it's extruded, not cast. One other thing I have learned as I have cut more and more acrylic, is that yes O Flute bits are better suited for cutting acrylic. Not that the others can't, but they do a better job of ejecting the acrylic and generating less heat.

[@willa5060]

@@D.E.Hammer im so grateful for this awesome answer, the acrylic has plastic cover but according to amazon where i got it its cast acrylic!! My feed rate was 25in/min and depth per pass 0.02 inch Plunge rate is 9in/min, not really sure what they are supposed to be , i kept them on default, i will try your great advices , thank you so much and i appreciate your time very much :)

[@D.E.Hammer]

Well let me provide some context in terms of feeds and speeds. On my 3018 any time I get over 300mm a minute, my machine would go crazy with vibration or my bit would break. Yes even a larger diameter bits. Talking with another 3018 owner, they were able to get theirs cutting at mid 500mm per minute. Yours is just over the 600mm per minute. For some my 250mm to just under 300mm per minute works for them and others can go faster. It all comes down to what can your machine handle. You can tell just by the sound of your machine if you are going to fast. Plus this is info is on Stock machines no upgrades. So I also hate to say it, but amazon dealers have sent me extruded instead of cast. Now "Most" of the time cast acrylic comes paper faced, and extruded comes plastic face. Some people on Amazon will sell extruded as cast. It's really hard to visually tell, so it becomes a buy and test it out kind of thing. Buying direct from an acrylic supplier for hobbyists and professionals cuts the probability of that way down. You can cut extruded, but you have to have it dialed in just right so it does not gum up on you, or have some kind of cooling solution. I hope this all helps and you get it dialed in. Let me know how it goes!

[@willa5060]

@@D.E.Hammer i appreciate the insight, i would try some different things and see how it goes, thank you so much

[@kevinleemedlin385]

Liking your channel! I'll definitely be back!

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thank You!

[@bessiefunk2037]

What engraving bit was used on that Dallas project? Great job on the video!

[@D.E.Hammer]

I used a spring loaded 90 degree Drag bit, by RDZ, Thank You!

[@aaadeejay]

on the V bit what are the rates you're using? there was no mention of this, same as the other rates?

[@D.E.Hammer]

For the spring loaded drag bit I use anywhere from 250-300mm per minute for feed rate, 250mm per min plunge rate, with a 0.1mm depth of cut, and 1 for RPM as you do not want the spindle on when using a drag bit. (1 turns the spindle off, it will not let you enter in 0 in CC)

[@aaadeejay]

@@D.E.Hammer thank you for this information. I was actually inquiring about the 30 degree Amana 45771-k

[@D.E.Hammer]

@@aaadeejay Sorry about that, for that bit on a stock 3018 I use anywhere form: 225-275mm per minute Feed, 75-150 mm per minute Plunge, 0.15mm per pass, and i think with was 9000 rpm.

[@aaadeejay]

@@D.E.Hammer AWESOME! Thanks!

[@manuelballesterosdominguez7475]

Gran video...Hola yo me inicio y tengo de 1 filo quiero usarlas en acrílico me gustaría saber a qué velocidades rpm.y velocidad de bajada y profundidad podría agregarlas a la base de datos de aspire .1saludo desde barcelona

[@GordonRock1]

I don't use my CNC very often but this is great information. Liked and subscribed. I will be following you with interest. If you are interested in a sticker swap let me know. I can do physical stickers, virtual stickers or both.

[@D.E.Hammer]

First Thank You! Secondly, I should be getting my stickers next week.

[@GordonRock1]

@@D.E.Hammer Excellent. I am sending my virtual sticker to your email address. If you want a physical one give me your mailing address and I will send one of those to you as well. .....Gord

[@johneisen5886]

Your videos are very informative. But the scripted content is hard to listen too. Be natural or practice on your reading skills. Just a little constructive criticism.

[@D.E.Hammer]

Thank you John. I agree with you and i am working/practicing to find the balance between scripted (so i do not miss those important details), and natural so its easy to listen to and enjoyable to watch.

[@jackwilborn2353]

Nice video and I love your Dallas acrylic piece. The only issue I see is that in any machining operation the most important factor is speeds/feeds and it changes for tool size/shape. Running the same speeds/feeds with different bits won't really tell you much. Usually what causes residue on the tool is overheating, indicating too slow of a feed or speed setting. The reasoning is actually called chip load and it relates to how fast and how large of a piece of material it is removing. Might think of it in extreme. The crazy idea of zero spindle speed and and and feed rate will break the tool. That's with the spindle speed too slow for the feed rate. High spindle speed and slow feed rate does not cut, it wears on the tool creating heat. The proper chip removal or chip loading is pretty essential to most machining operations. Here's a general Wiki. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speeds_and_feeds Did like it, thanks for the time and consideration, we are all thankful. Take care...

[@D.E.Hammer]

You are 100% correct. I did run tests on these at different speeds and feeds before I did the video, but the basic endmills still ended up with worse edges, than the single, double and triple flute. They always left a gunkier and artifacts on the edges, no matter what speeds or feeds. I also broke a lot of bits testing for this video, so I should have probably brought that up as to why I stayed with my normal settings for cutting acrylic. I was/am still new to CNC and making videos like this, so appreciate your time in watching and your response.