circle cutting

[soundwaves]

Im new to this and think the hybrid 4x4 is for me. What I would use it for would be 3/4"MDF templates, circles, ellipses, etc.. I use these a lot in my industry. My question is this, once you cut a circle free of the main work piece, does the circle stay put or do you have to hold it as the router finishes its pass. When I use my hand held circle/router cutter, you have to be very careful to finish the circle so it does not get near the cutter and flop around. Also, you have to clean up the little point it leaves behind. Can I get perfect pieces every time without cleaning up the edges, can I leave it unattended to cut multiple pieces and guaranty that it wont damage the piece and bit? And last but not least, to maximize material use, can I cut multiple circles within each other, 2" 4" 6"...... Thanks for all your help and look to be cutting soon!!
Oh yea, could I engrave Aluminum on this machine? What about cut through it, what would be the maximum thickness??

[Sinkoumn]

Just program tabs into your G-code and you're set. If you're mass producing a LOT of them, trimming the tabs may be a little bit of a hassle, but just get a laminate trimmer or a table router and use a flush cutting router bit to take off the small tabs that hold the circles/ellipse/etc in place on the CNC table.

[soundwaves]

thats genius! a laminate trimmer will be perfect to finish them off.

[joecnc2006]

Originally Posted by soundwaves thats genius! a laminate trimmer will be perfect to finish them off.

YouTube - Cutting Tabs

YouTube - Cutting Tabs

Joe

[Sinkoumn]

Are you going to be making a lot of subwoofer and speaker boxes? If so, and you're fiber-glassing them you might not even have to trim all the tabs since many of them will be inside and completely out of sight once the canvas is stretched over the wood frame and glassed.

[soundwaves]

Yea well be making lots of glass style enclosures so the tabs wont be a problem. What I want to branch out the cnc for is selling custom made templates. Perfect ellipses that pocket into one another are to die for, Ive been wanting these for a while and as it stands now, we make forward and reverse pieces by hand and thats very time consuming.