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I’m getting ready to cut some acrylic using a 1/8" bit (either 2 flute upcut ball end or 2 flute straight flat end). For those with the 611 and acrylic experience, which bit would you choose and what 611 speed, DOC, and cut speed do you use?
I use the 1/8" Solid Carbide 2 Flute Straight End Mill that comes with the starter pack or inventables sells a 10 pack and it cuts beautifully with acrylic, no fuzz on the edges at all.
I tried using the 1/8" 2 flute straight flat end mill, but I couldn’t move it fast enough at 611 speed ‘1’ to keep from gumming up. It wouldn’t remove chips. The 1/8" 2 flute upcut ball end mill worked well though, 611 speed ‘1’, .118" DOC, and 180 IPM.
I didn’t try the engraving bit since I was trying to cut out a shape from an acrylic sheet, but I bet it would work great with some of the edge lit LED projects I’ve seen on here.
I am getting my machine tomorrow and look forward to doing some acrylic work. Question(s), for a first timer like myself, what software is good to use?
Easel is free and easy to use, but it all depends on what you want to do. If you want an X-Y or X-Z angle or curve, it won’t do it. If you want to cut outlines, pockets, and various depths that are all at different heights that can be set as “steps” up or down, then it’ll be good.
If all you want to do is basically cut some designs into an acrylic face and cut the acrylic out, you can import the image into Easel and go to town. If you want to do something similar to the face of a coin, where it’s not just flat cuts, that’ll take another program.
Easel’s definitely a good starting spot, especially if you’re starting out in CNC. It’s like Microsoft Paint as compared to Adobe Photoshop, great for basic work and beginners like me.
question, say there is a picture of something i like that looks that can be cut, how do i use that picture in easel? do I need a different program to vector it then save as a .svg file ?
