Try these guys. https://bitsbits.com/ I buy from them and have had good luck with their products.
Guys, title says it all - the cheapo Chinese 20 degree bits all have the tips break off no matter what speeds or feeds, even on soft materials. I need 1/8" bits that will keep their point, my objective is to engrave PCB's so they have to be fine.
Can anyone recommend any brand / dealer?
Cheers
Les
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Try these guys. https://bitsbits.com/ I buy from them and have had good luck with their products.
Jim Dawson
Sandy, Oregon, USA
Here is one that I have been using with good results...
https://www.precisebits.com/
Chris D
I have used PreciseBits trace isolation cutters in the past, and they definitely work well. But:
If your current setup is breaking the tips off $1 Chinese cutters, then your $15 PreciseBits cutter will break just as quick. Unless you correct the problem, you will simply be throwing money away 15 times faster than you were before.
I'm open to any suggestions as to how to stop it happening - I am using very light feeds and cuts (400mm/min, 0.02mm depth increments), and the cutter RPM is the max that my setup can do (about 6500 RPM)
If you can give me any advice on prevention I am all ears.
Thanks for the replies and assistance
Les
Here is what works for me with Chinese V-cutters.
- I use 30-degree and 45-degree tools. 15-degree cutters are way too fragile, and they do not give you any advantage in cut width.
- I use 10 000 RPM, 200 mm/min feed rate and 100 mm/min plunge rate (so the chip size is 3 times smaller than yours). My machine is not very rigid, so I have to cut much slower than what you see in YouTube videos with real PCB prototyping machines.
- I cut the copper in one pass (0.05mm depth). Trying to do it in several shallow passes just makes the tool rub the copper surface instead of cutting it.
- Bed levelling is critical.
- Even with a perfect bed, actual PCBs are not 100% flat, so I use Autoleveller to level the g-code.
- Tool runout is critical. If your spindle has any significant runout, tools will just keep breaking.
Thanks for the tips.
I have to say that I will have to get a handle on the bed levelling, Universal Gcode sender can do it but I haven't worked out how yet.
Cheers
Les