So, I have a strange problem. When I am cutting into mdf, at a conservative depth, say less than an 1/8 inch, my machine cuts beautifully when it is traveling from left to right. But when It travels from right to left the bit gets jittery and and leaves a jagged finish. X carriage is tight and the belts are tight. It was doing this when I had the stock arduino gshield setup, and I have since upgraded to WinCnC and the mx3660 controller, and it is still doing it. I even bolted a steel spline between the x rails, and no luck. I can’t think of any other ways to stabilize the x carriage. Why would it cut awesome in one direction, and crappy in the other? Oh, and I adjusted the speed on the dewalt to its highest setting, and it didn’t help. I’m pulling my hair out over here. Anyone got any ideas?
You are going to have to play with your feed rates, also, the length of the bit sticking out of the collet can make jittering problems worse. Try to place the bit in the collet as far up as possible while still being usable.
Did you try different bit. Sounds like it is cutting good on conventional, wobbling on climb. It does it when bit start getting dull.
It’s a new bit. I’ve only used it on test pieces of mdf maybe three or four times. I can try pushing the bit deeper in the collet and see if that helps. I’m running at 100 ipm. That doesn’t seem like it is too fast for this router. Does anyone else run THIER 611 at 100 ipm?
What size and kind of bit is it. 100 IPM is pretty fast, try in the 50-60 range.
I run mine at 100 ipm on MDF, but only on very shallow cuts, usually finishing cuts or cutouts with a 1/8" bit…but I take 6 passes to cutout 1/2" MDF…so very shallow cuts.
It’s a 1/4 end mill
I have a 2 flute straight bit that likes to chatter on climbs with MDF…3 or 4 flute up or down cut works really well.
Here is the finish it is leaving going right to left
It not letting me upload photos. Ugh
I would try decreasing your cut depth first, then try a little bit slower IPM speed and see how that goes.
Yeah, you might be going too fast. One side of that is going to be going with the direction the bit is spinning, and one is going against, that’s why it’s behaving differently on the two sides of that pocket.
Too fast or too deep of a cut.
Maybe I should raster along the y axis?
“Maybe I should raster along the y axis?”
What software are you using? Easel or something else?
I would recommend trying some more test cuts. Figure out if it is a feed and speed issue or something else in the mechanics of your machine.
Say a loose eccentric nut that causes a V wheel to wobble when force is applied in one direction?
If you can change the carve profile so it is making the conventional and climb along another axis that may show you the problem area.
I did 1/8" bit at 2/3’s bit diameter depth (1/2 is recommended), at around 80 in/min with no issues in MDF
It just seems that this 611 is more than capable of handling .1 DOC and 100 ipm. Ugh
I cut MDF with .125 two flute, .2 deep 70 ipm all the time. Something wrong here. Only I get chatter if I push more than 50 ipm on plywood. Here is what I use for MDF. I also use same brand name down cut for Plywood. They’re not cheap but last forever.
http://www.toolstoday.com/p-5645-solid-carbide-spiral-flute-plunge-2-flute-up-cut.aspx
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