Does anyone have any experience using the PCB drills or engraving bits in materials other than PCBs? I suspect the small drill bits would be able to drill through plastics. How about soft woods?
Of more interest, though, are the PCB engraving bits. They seem like they could be used for very fine work on other soft materials. If you’ve tried non-PCB materials, can you share results and setup?
The smaller the bit, the slower and shallower you need to go. Those bits are very easy to break but otherwise work just fine for most other projects.
Thanks @Traxxtar. Since I bought those drill/endmill sets but need only one or two specific bits for my PCB milling, I’m hoping to make use of them in other applications. Do you (or others) have a rule of thumb for the feed rate/size ratio? I think I’m set on how depth of pass relates to endmill diameter.
I don’t have any specific numbers, but I would start with the same values used for PCB milling. Easel lets you adjust the speed rates during a carve so it’s easy to scale back if needed while carving.
