I’m using a 2.5” bit. What is a good feed rate for surfacing the bed?
I found this Link for setting up the gcode to surface my bed. My surface area is 620X x 690Y.
I’m not sure how they calculate the feed rate. I have it set to 10,000 and it seems like it might be a little fast.
Not sure if there is a better option out there.
Got to admit that my first surfacing attempts didn’t go well. It appears that the bit is touching on the right side more instead sitting horizontal like it should.
Is there a way to correct the bit from leaning too much to the right? Is a 2.5 inch bit too large?
So I’ve typically used like a 22mm bit to surface my bed. I think the feed rate has been roughly 3000mm/min IIRC.
Here is an example.
The depth of cut has been very minimal, as I only want to take a thin bit off each time.
I would recommend a sacrificial material on top of the baseboard you built the machine on. This way you can keep surfacing the bed as it wears out.
The angle of the spindle can be loosely adjust my rotating the Z carriage plate. Use a large square for this and check its perpendicular to the bed.
Good luck!
Hi Pete,
What bit are you using?
I will get out the square and see where I’m at.
I will try it again but with some mdf on top of the baseboard. I have another bit that is 1” that I will try.
After all this I’m wondering if by chance I might have had the spindle spinning backwards. I would have expected it to just chew through 1-5 mm with no trouble.
Thanks,
Brandon
Out just a little bit.
I had a lot of slop in my Z carriage. I went through and tightened it up.
Silly me was running the bit in reverse last time. Works better in forward.
MDF is a lot easier to cut. I need to go get some.
A standard 2 flute straight cutter with a 22mm diameter.
I had mine set backwards once - it turns out it’ll still go through stuff very easy! you’ve got to make it the cutter is going the right direction. If it is going backwards - just swap two of the three wires around on the spindle wires - it doesn’t matter which.
Ah that’ll be the culprit!
MDF is nice and cheap too - so you dont mind going through it! well worth it.
Did you get it all sorted in the end? are you trimmed out now? or do you have to do the other spindle axis?
You can see me do this in the story for the Root 4 Lite build on Instagram - (@root_cnc) • Instagram photos and videos
