Section
10
ROUTING NOTES
An allowance must be made for the cutter diameter in all routing programs.
The INCR function can be used for cutter offset if a value of half the cutter diameter is
selected but will, of course, only be fully effective if used parallel to the axes of the machine.
For best results with the 125 watt spindle, use a 1.6 mm dia. routing cutter with a maximum
stack height of 3.2 mm. Up to 2.4 mm dia and a stack height of 6.4 mm may be used with
the 450 watt spindle.
Use a very slow feed rate to plunge the cutter into the board (use only plunge end cutters)
and a spindle speed of between 35,000 and 45,000 rpm. for the 125 watt 4025 & 4026
spindles.
Use 30,000 to 40,000 rpm for the 450 watt 4032 spindles.
If a high pitched whine is heard then try reducing the cutter rpm. or increasing the cutting
rate.
For smaller cutters, e.g. 1 mm and under, use a higher spindle speed (55,000) and slower
cutting rate.
It must be understood that while routing is taking place there will be an appreciable
deflection of the routing cutter. This is caused by the cutter bending under the load of
routing where only the forward edge of the cutter is in contact with the laminate.
The deflection will vary depending upon the size of the cutter and the linear cutting speed
and could be as much as 0.15mm (0.006") and will cause the bottom board in a stack of
three boards to be cut larger than the top board.
If greater accuracy is required, then the part should be routed in two passes. The second
pass will be cutting only a small amount of laminate and the cutter deflection will therefore
be negligible.
Any measurement of routed parts should be conducted with great caution as changes in
temperature can greatly change the size of a piece of laminate.
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