CNC machining barge Hull from Koa wood

Machining the bow end of a piece of Koa wood for a 1:144 scale model of a barge. Cut on a Supermax 16VS CNC. Recently the control was upgraded to Mach3. Due to limited X travel of 34" and model length, 36.5 the model was done in two parts.

6000RPM 35ipm
3/4" 4" LOC, Aluminum/Non-Ferrous End mill. HSS, TiN coated.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• CNC
• Mach3
• machining
• koa
• wood
• router
• supermax
• 16vs
• milling
• profiling

[SupermaxCNC]

The other options would be a 4 flute or a carbide mill. This same mill in carbide would be over $200.

The chatter was not as bad as it sounds. The center section was unsupported so the thing sang. Koa is a tone wood used in musical instruments,

I also could have probably been able to use a faster feed but it was working well so I didnt want to do something to screw things up. After all that piece of wood was about $1500! Yes, One thousand five hundred.

[l33ta2]

It looks normal to me. If the cutter went along the other direction it would grab into the material and lead to bad surface finish and/or break the cutter. Wouldn't be as noisy if a shorter end mill was used with the full length of cut taking advantage.

[nuggybut]

surely you should be feeding in the other direction? this would prevent all that chattering as you 'climb mill' around the end grain.