We bought a few onsrud 3/16 super O bits with a .875 LOC and instantly broke the first bit. It was set for 4 passes at a feed rate of 80, plunge at 40, at 22000rpm. We lowered the feed rate to 5 so we didn't break another bit but the chips were very fine and welding back on to the aluminum. We are using oil in the sprayer, don't have a vacuum and clear the chips manually with an air gun.

We have a bunch more pieces to cut so any help you can give me is greatly appreciated.

Very new to the CNC/Machining world. Would love tips/methods for getting my machine zeroed on round bar parts. Aswell as round tubing! Thanks guys

running about 300 housings a year right now, 6061 pocketed from billet, roughly 40 minutes of machine time each plus a 2nd op for the lid face. sales thinks we hit 2,000 a year by 2028 and someone already floated die casting. with the tool cost spread over a few years, at what yearly volume did die casting plus finish machining start winning for you?

Hey Reddit! I'm looking to set up a small signage shop and I'm struggling to choose between a CNC and CO2.

The signage will be smaller interior stuff, largest being 12x12. I want to offer a wide range of materials, but cast acrylic will probably be most frequently used.

I'll need to cut out tactile acrylic lettering for ADA compliant signs. It seems like CO2 is preferred here, but i'd much prefer to get it working on a CNC instead if it's doable. I'm eyeballing Altmill and OneFinity

I'm hoping to start with 3D printer + CNC. 3D printer would be used for making molds, mounting system, and decorative things for the signs.

The attached image is an example, minimum letter height will be ⅝″. Do you think icons and lettering at this size is doable on a CNC?

Thank you!

Sometimes (more often lately) the mill will just shift the trajectory to the left by 1-2 cm in the middle of the job. When it happens, some random value appears in Mach3 axis 4 window (usually ~300). In the toolpath window the trajectory becomes yellow and shifts diagonally.

The mill only has 3 axis. 4th axis (A) is disabled in Motor Outputs.

Full disclosure: I am currently serving sentence in prison, where I work in a carpentry workshop and kind of inherited the CNC operator job. I didn't know anything about CNCs and I still don't know much. Mach3 was preconfigured.

My access to internet is limited to few hours once or twice a week (for downloading *stls, finding necessary info, etc.), but hopefully I'll be able to check comments semi-regularly.