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Thread: Could Anyone Please Recommend a Starter Bit Set for a Shapeoko 4?

  1. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Alex Zeller View Post
    If you live near NY city Tools today has very fast shipping, much more reliable than Amazon. What are you planning on doing with your cnc? Maybe I missed it but are you planning on working with wood to start out with? Those bits you ordered are 1/8" shank so they are going to be very small which will mean easy to break. Make sure you have an 1/8" collet for your router. I would go to a mfg's site like Amana and find a bit of similar size and see what they recommend for feed speeds.

    One of the first things you need to learn is how fast the cnc should move depending on the size of the bits. Too fast or too deep and you'll break the bit. Too slow and you'll overheat the bit burning the wood and dulling the bit. For learning I would try to find someone with a Shapeoko (or maybe on their site they have test files) that can give you a copy of the g-code needed to make something simple. Hopefully if you can find something it will tell you the bit size and the feed speeds.

    Assuming you are going to work with wood I like the 1/4" end mill bits. They are pretty stout and can take some punishment. I would also get a 60 degree V bit. With the V bit you can make a couple V carve signs (great project for someone new). They are also pretty strong.
    Alex, thanks for your post. I will never be cutting wood, only industrial plastics like Ultem, Delrin, Celluloid, etc. No wood.

    Thanks Again,
    Scott

  2. #17
    Dont order any sets. Period. Tooling is a daily issue and you can have the exact tooling you need in-house the following day if not two days free. Set's suck. You will have tooling you may never need, may have to find a use for, and there is very little cost savings in sets.

    Just order the tooling you need for the job at hand when your ready to run the job and plan a day in to the production.

  3. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    Dont order any sets. Period. Tooling is a daily issue and you can have the exact tooling you need in-house the following day if not two days free. Set's suck. You will have tooling you may never need, may have to find a use for, and there is very little cost savings in sets.

    Just order the tooling you need for the job at hand when your ready to run the job and plan a day in to the production.
    Mark, thanks. Makes sense.

    I only run about three different materials, total, so once I find the right tooling I'll be able to dial it in long-term.

    Thanks Again,
    Scott

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    Alex, his primary is plastics. Hence, the O-Flute recommendation, etc.
    Listen to Jim, if you're not using O-Flute for plastics your using the wrong bit. The spiral O-Flute will work better than the straight O-Flute.

    I sell mostly 1/8", 3/16" with 1/4" diameter being third. No sense buying sets because you will probably never need more than one or two bits for shape cutting.

  5. #20
    Calculate your chip load to get the best performance and life from your tooling. It can be hard to run low power machines fast enough for optimum chip load, so small diameter bits may work best (although they will have limited depth of cut and strength). https://cutter-shop.com/chip-load-ch...15%E2%80%9D%20

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,638
    With plastics, heat control is essential, so chip load, as mentioned by Kevin, is really critical. Chips throw off the heat. But with plastics, you have to really find the sweet spot so that the chips themselves don't get so hot that they rebond to the material after the tooling passes. It's a...dance...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  7. #22
    Run a lot of plastic here. Cast/extruded acrylic, solid surface, HDPE,.. my advice is to have a spare tool and start at the extreme high end of you chipload/feed/speed calc. Dial your plunge/ramp rates WAY up. Typically most with plastic just run way to slow. Oflute has never been critical for me. We run a lot of 2 flute up/down spirals and ball nose, 2 flute straight, and 3 flute tapered spirals with .0625 and .03125 tips. The real issue is running your feeds super fast in plastic. If you poke along your sunk.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Medina Ohio
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    4,513
    For hard plastics like acrylic I use a 3 flute low helix vortex bit.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    Along the lines of Mark's post, if the machine can't zip along horizontally at a high rate, then the tooling RPM will have to go down to stay within chip load and not create excessive heat. That's dependent on the actual CNC machine's capabilities. Again, "it's a dance".
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Cleveland, Ohio
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    83
    An internet search for end mills has so many…. I ordered a starter set with the machine that’s coming, but am starting to think about my applications (brass sheet) and what companies to lean toward.

    A guy named “Fromme” has a bunch of YouTube videos for new folks, and showed Amana as better than Whiteside. By that he meant higher quality steel in the shank (didn’t compare the carbide edges). He also didn’t discuss wood vs soft metals.

    Does your preference for Amana apply to brass too?
    Is Amana your choice because it performs better? Costs less? Breaks less? Dulls more slowly?

    Are there other folks with CNC experience with suggestions for companies to seek out (or avoid)?

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,638
    I do like Amana for plastics and non-ferrous metals...ToolsToday is generally where I've bought those. While I like and use some Whiteside tooling (compression bits generally) for wood, Amana has a very broad line of quality tools that are more specialized. And you do want tooling that's designed for the material you are going to cut.

    Honestly, for general wood cutting and aside from the compression tools, I'm not really picky about brand and have no issue sourcing tooling via Amazon and EBay at attractive prices. But for specialties...I try to buy for specification and that generally leads to brands like Amana.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

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