Thanks for starting this! I've been trying to deal with thin wood that wants to cup on me and this is the perfect solution.
By far the most challenging parts are ones involving thin ( < 0.125" ) aluminum sheets. I keep a healthy stock of 1/8 inch bits single flute carbide bits because I break them so often. I tried multiple feeds and speeds combo, and go through WD40 like crazy. My suspicion is that my hold down is not sufficient to prevent the material from pulling and vibrating during cutting leading to quickly dulled tools, chip welding, and eventually breakage within seconds.... Getting a good setup for doing sheet metal 1 offs would be great. I started noodling on a hold down system tied to the spindle head. Then I found these.
CNC Pressure Foot Clamping
CNC Pressure Foot Clamping Attachment for CNC Router Spindle
Factory Supply Spindle Diameter 80mm Auto Pressure Foot Fixture Holder for CNC Router DIY Accessories CNC Plate Clamp-in Wood Router from Industry & Business on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
I am leaning towards the Chinese style ones, since the using ball bearings instead of a teflon block seems like it would work better skimming over metal chips.
Anyone have experience with this type of device?
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Thanks for starting this! I've been trying to deal with thin wood that wants to cup on me and this is the perfect solution.
I use a pressure foot most of the time and only occasionally use tape for hold down, no vacuum bed on my machine! I made my own.
The thing I have to watch for it the foot catching on the edges of material and scratches from chips getting stuck under the foot. Other than that it works great.
Shannon
I have been wanting to put one on my machine, but have not tried it yet. Several other things you can also try:
Use 3/16" bits if you can. They are much stronger.
Use bits with 1/4" or less flutes so they are stronger.
Make sure you are using correct feed and speed and are not exceding the rigidity of your machine. On my router I use mostly single flute cutters because I can't slow down the router enough to match the max speed I can move the axis motors.
If you have a lot holes drill them first then put small screws in them to hold your material down to a wood spoil board. Add holes if necessary. This is a huge help on thin metal.
Try downcut spiral flute bits. Do a test cut on just the spoil board first and give yourself a slot in it for the chips to go into.
Here's a couple, I also have a dust shoe that clips directly onto the foot plate itself, but I don't seem to have any pictures of that. I use the plate with the smaller hole for smaller cutters, it sometimes limits the amount of dust removed by the suction but sure holds the material down well.
Shannon.
I searched the forum but couldn't find much on pressure foot hold downs?
I cut a lot of thin aluminum, like .025" 6061T6, sometimes on dedicated gasketed vac boards, that works great, but obviously making the dedicated board is time consuming.
For lower volume jobs that won't warrant a vac board, I screw the material down to the MDF spoil board, that's time consuming too.
Has anyone here used or made their own ball bearing pressure foot like this? Did it work? Did it trap chips that then scratched the surface?