I cut my first record today, am I a star?

have you thought about the vacuum jig idea that would save you alot of money in the long run?

Seems like that pressure foot you posted about might work here

yeah I was actually just thinking about that I bet this is the perfect application for that

Yea, I have thought about it but have struggled with believing it would work in a case like the zebra. I don’t know much about them but, from what I have seen, there are 2 to 3 spots where a vacuum is applied to the material. In this case, for all practical purposes, the entire thing would need to have a vacuum applied to it. I can see it working until the carve starts as then, after more of the vacuum holes are exposed, the overall suction capacity decreases. Would there be enough remaining suction to hold sufficiently? I dunno. Maybe. But, yea, I’ve thought about it and it has been on the back burner with maybe getting to it at some point.

Pressure foot? Would this address my concern above?

Google cnc pressure foot, there are several out there. @WorkinWoods posted about them the other day.

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@RandyHawkins

yeah check this out

also oh no you can build a vacuum fixture that will put suction on the entire record except for about a .125" ring around the outer edge a record that size if the fixture is built correctly your entire body weight would not pull it off

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@ChrisRice @WorkinWoods
I did see that posting but didn’t read into it.

So, I just watched a couple of videos and it looks like it could have potential but maybe not with vinyl records. From what I have noticed while watching carves the past few days is that a pointy piece, even 1/2" long, could flex up when the second side of it is being carved.

On the videos I watched it looked like the center hole of the foot is, what, 1.5"? So, at least in my mind, I could see there still being an issue with pointy tips. Maybe?

yeah but you can get different plastic inserts for the bottom of them or custom make one that goes all the way down to the bit and hugs it close to prevent that

personally I think a vac fixture with some high contact release paper or even vacuum mat would be more reliable than the foot

but I am not sure on the pressure foot I have not used one just yet just watched the videos and did some research like you say

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How can I slow down the speed to 100 or 75 ipm on my DeWalt

That is a setting you make when creating your tool path gcode. I use VCarve Pro and there it is a setting along with other bit values. I use Easel only for sending the gcode so I don’t know, off the top of my head, the setting is there. Should be easy to fine though.

IPM (or mm/min) is a value referring to the travel speed of the CNC. The Dewalt RPM have nothing to do with it.
IPM is a setting defined in your CAM-part of your workflow.

Haldor
aha I thought is is was the speed RPM on the router
Thank´s

Randy
How did you set up the toolpath
Did you do pocket ?

No, not a pocket as that would clear out an area between vectors. I did a profile path and had the depth set to slightly more than the thickness of the record. Here is my VCarve settings:

image

Maby I should try cutting with Vectric instead of Easel ?

Not sure you can. I use Vectric’s VCarve Pro to generate the toolpaths (the gcode). I then use Easel to send that gcode to the CNC. My design work is in VCarve Pro and not Easel.

Wanted to have Abbey Road cutout but was not willing to destroy my album so I bought some cheap records at a 2nd hand shop - 5 for $1.00. Downloaded images of the Abbey Road labels and it worked out quite well. I used a v-bit and cut at 3,000mm/min with a DOC of .1mm.

Why label one side when you can label both?

Sorry for the less than wonderful photos. I am definitely not a photographer!!

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NICE!!! love it

How did you secure the record?

Double sided tape!