I"m not looking for a super deep cut, just enough so I can paint the inside of the letters. It’s a big project, so I understand it’s not going to be quick, but there’s no way I can run the machine for 3+ hours… Any suggestions?
A couple of things:
1.) Three hours isn’t unheard of for a complicated project. Why can’t you run it for 3+ hours straight? Is it a neighbor issue or a “don’t have time for that” issue?
2.) I find easel’s defaults for speeds a little low. You can try increasing the feed rate in Cut Settings, depending on the material.
3.) A 1/32" finish bit is super tiny, and will create great detail, but for a sign that size, I’d think a 1/16" bit would do fine (minus the really thin text). You’d be able to drive that finish bit faster, and it cuts more with each go.
4.) The thin text won’t work on a 1/16" bit, so I’d make that a different project with a V-Bit or a 1/32" bit. But most of your time is spent in that finishing pass, so I’d think it’d be worth it.
I thought I had read on here that you shouldn’t run your machine for >2 hours. I was also concerned that I was missing something…
I changed the bits to a 1/8 in for the roughing and the 60 degree v bit for the details and the time improved…
2.) I find easel’s defaults for speeds a little low. You can try increasing the feed rate in Cut Settings, depending on the material.
I was wondering about this, so i’m cutting this on MDF, what would you recommend?
If that’s the case, its news to me. I’ve definitely run longer than 2h before. If you had a link, that’d be cool. I’m no expert by any means, but running the router at its lowest speed seems to keep the heat down for me.
For me, I’d run at least 60 ipm, and possibly more. MDF cuts so quickly it can take a lot. One thing I did notice (that if anything will increase your time) is the depth of cut for bits as a rule of thumb should be no more than 1/2 the bit’s diameter (or as my geometry teacher called it, the “radius”, but I’ve always seen it written as 1/2 diameter).
Also, I wasn’t suggesting a V-bit for the detail (rather adding the thin text as a separate project completely), but that might actually work well enough. You’ll just get slopes at your letter edges instead of nice vertical lines, obviously. It probably would make painting a bit harder though.
Without knowing your setup, I don’t think you’d have a problem going full depth with the 60° V-bit. That’ll reduce your time more.
0.08 is pretty deep if you’re painting. I use 0.04.
I’ve run a 12 hour carve with no issues so not running > 2 hours is a myth.
For MDF, easily can hit 80-100 ipm with a 1/8" and a Vbit.
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