Selecting Engraving Bits

[Atomic_Sheep]

Hi Guys,

Was hoping for some tips on selecting appropriate engraving bits.

I'm guessing carbide are the best?

What materials can these suckers manage? The ones that came with my Chinese CNC lived a short life, I pretty much destoryed them through accidental Z axis plunging into the table or work pieces before they could do so much as a single cut so I've got practically zero experience with them.

Do the angles mean anything other than the "fineness" of the cut? I'm guessing the greater the angle, the softer the material that you plan on engraving needs to be?

How do you go about calculating feedrates and plunge depths for these things?

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[tbev]

I do a lot of engraving in aluminum and I'll tell you what I know,, it will get you off to a good start. I use a 1/16in ball endmill, carbide, 2fl, you want to go with 2 flutes in aluminium, carbide for sure. I run them from 0.015in to 0.005in ten thou deep is good, at 6-10 ipm. the Angles pointy bits will make a thinner or thicker line, but that also varies depending on how deep you go with them, it's nice to have a couple different angles, 45, 90, 60 are good to have, as some will work better depending on the spacing of the lines like depending on the font for example. Search ebay for a guy called "Drilllman1" he has great deals on little bits, I get most of my engraving bits and 1/16in balls from him. The 1/16in ball em, 2fl, is great, it's a really nice bit to engrave with. Good luck.

[Atomic_Sheep]

Aren't V cutters single flute? Especially since they cut with just one edge?

Also, I finally purchased some, so ready to start working away. Was wondering why in the specifications it said cutting edge is 0.1mm, they go down to a tiny point which is way less than 0.1mm, why are they called 0.1mm?

Ended up buying 10, 15, 20 and 30 degree ones. Just some that I found, might get the 45, 60 and 90 in a little while. For now I need to do some PCB work so I figured I'll go as fine as possible.

[beone]

Carbide bits will cut most anything. I use them almost exclusively in 60,40,and 30 degrees. It comes down to feed and speed. In wood and polyurethane plastic, I run at 30 in per minute at a max depth of .125. In aluminum, I run at about 8 ipm at a depth no greater than .010. In metal cool it somehow. An air jet is OK, but adding a water mist helps immensely. I dont use a 'coolant/lube' as my router is wood--i just use water. I also generate most of my gcode with VcarvePro which controls the depth.

[grg12]

Was wondering why in the specifications it said cutting edge is 0.1mm, they go down to a tiny point which is way less than 0.1mm, why are they called 0.1mm?

They have small flat ground at the tip to give the "point" non zero cutting speed. Without it the point will "plow" material and eventually break off