Profile cuts on MDF

@WorkinWoods wow thank for the info! I need to spend a full day making adjustments to this bad boy. I don’t think I will be able to pull off my ipm that high. the fastest I have done is 80ipm and it was a mistake. I remember the toold and machine would be wining and could not keep up it seemed like. what size bit did you use when you cut the whole 1/4 depth? It is my goal to figure out that fastest most efficient way to cut these signs.

My waste board looks like crap. I cut through my material every single time so it might not be extremely level or smooth.

I ordered the suck it boot last week. I am waiting for it to arrive. I also am interested in upgrading the Z. This is all so time consuming!

@ChristopherHuynh

I use the 1/8" tool at full depth just make sure your ramping into the material dont plunge into it

and yeah thats the whole thing push your limits and see what happens find that balance mdf is cheap

try and find a local wholesale supplier you can get 1/4" mdf really cheap I buy it for 11.00 a 4x8 sheet and I buy damaged sheets for 5.00 each lol usually there is nothing wrong with them

yeah I almost always cut .01" over the material thickness to get the tool under the material and a downcut tool will help you with this because it will force the material down to the spoilboard

just make sure there is no dust when you lay down the new sheet and when it gets to bad just surface the spoilboard .01" to remove all the cutting marks depending how busy you are I surface once a week you can get alot of surfacing out of a 3/4" spoilboard

and on the x-carve you can bolt the spoilboard right down to the original mdf spoilboard that came with the machine just use nylon fasters so you can cut right through them with no problems

and yes sir it is time consuming when you have to learn and upgrade the machine at the same time especially when you are trying to make money with it thats why I bought a large 4x8 machine shortly after I bought the x-carve I just wanted to cut things and not fiddle with the machine

although unless you buy a 200,000 machine you will always find things to upgrade lol and even that and any machine really alot of time goes into making jigs and fixtures to speed your process up

like if you wanted to make a vacuum fixture for your signs for easy material swap out

I think you will be happy with that dust shoe it will keep the dust down

what vacuum did you buy?

and if you have the dewalt router make sure and blow it out time to time as mdf dust contains metal and will burn up the router

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sorry as far as cut direction I would stick with conventional

mdf really cuts well both ways but conventional is less taxing on your machine and I find your parts stay in place better when you finish cutting them especially when you dont use any tabs

Yeah, I am not in the market for a 200k machine haha. I am awaiting the dust shoe as well as the z upgrade. hopefully I can get going smoothly again

This is what my signs look like…


Are you saying I can carve this without tabs?!?

@PhilJohnson
How does the 1/8 dc spiral bit from inventables sound for profiling 1/4 MDF?

@ChristopherHuynh

Oh yeah I make those all the time

here is one I made the other day for a customer

I dont really ever use tabs on 1/4" mdf I find the dust holds it in just fine especially when using a downcut bit

I have even done that using a compression spiral and have had no problems

when using the down cut I cut the piece run a orbit sander 180 grit over the top of the board before I take the cutout out and then I flip the entire board makeing sure the cutout stays in place then I run the the orbit over the backside and its done ready to ship

when using a compression I cut the piece out take it out of the board blow it off with air and then its done ready to ship

even this one up in the left corner I cut was super super fragile and no tabs at all

@ChristopherHuynh

I have a question on those how do you ship yours? how do you keep them from breaking?

I have not had one break yet but I am thinking that I go to excessive lengths to keep them from breaking and it costs me alot on shipping

The biggest size we have shipped is 38x22 total length and width. We have three different size boxes to accommodate 4 different sign sizes. We wrap with bubble wrap, make sure there is no movement in the box, and off they go. Total cost for shipping supply is about 2-4 dollars depending on size for us. How do you ship yours? @WorkinWoods

@ChristopherHuynh

your shipping a 38x22" 1/4" thick mdf monogram for 2-4.00 USD? off of etsy?

how are you shipping so cheap?

I am at a minimum 7.00 an average of 12-15.00 to ship and those ones you see above where around 100.00 to ship 2 day (there where a few I think the package was 38lbs total)

currently I cut the piece out in the mdf board

and then I program a rectangle around the cutout offset about 1 inch from the size of the cutout and then I leave the cutout inside the rectangle and tape it in place so it will not move

then depending on the size and how fragile it is I will just put that square with cutout inside in a box or for large fragile ones I will brad nail wooden board across the length so that they are rigid once I put in the box

No no, our shipping label cost ranges from 10-30 dollars. The material we use for the shipping (I.e box, bubble wrap, packaging paper) cost us less then 5

The heaviest sign we have shipped weight around 3-4 pounds with box. I haven’t had any signs break yet and they seem to arrive in good condition

Got it, thanks phil

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oh okay lol I was gunna say show me your ways I need to ship for that

I highly recommend at least getting the Wide Makerslide and upgrading the gantry. It is a very easy upgrade to do (just a simple part swap, no clamping or drilling) and well worth the time and money.

Triple check your pulleys. The set screws are notorious to working just a little bit loose.

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