There are a lot of options when it comes to CNC
end mills, and router bits that work for cutting wood on a CNC. Shown at the
top is a high-performance end mill designed to cleanly cut wood at extremely
high speeds. Below that is a conventionally designed, coated CNC end mill. At
the bottom is a compression router bit designed to give you a clean cut at the
top and bottom.
What’s are the differences between a router bit & a CNC end
mill?
CNC Mills
There’s a lot of confusion about these
two terms. In general, it’s a difference of design and purpose. Most true CNCmills with high helix angles (a helix angle is
the angle between any helix and an axial line) are designed for cutting metal
inside coolant-flooded CNC milling machines (you’d likely find those in an
engineering or machine shop environment). But not all mills are used for
machining metal. In fact, CNC mills are designed for cutting all kinds of
specific materials in different working situations. You can find mills for
cutting steel of various types, aluminum, brass, plastics, polycarbonates,
carbon fiber, foam, plywood, composites and yes, soft and hard woods.
Another difference is that CNC mills
are sometimes longer than the bits you’d typically use on a router. It’s common
to find mills that are 3”, 4”, 6” or more. You’d likely never use really long
mills on a hand-held router, but on a CNC sometimes that extra length comes in
handy for deep-cutting, tight clearance situations. That said, for rigidity,
it’s always a good practice to use as short a mill as possible.
Can you use CNC end mills to cut wood on a CNC?
If the mills are carefully chosen the
answer is yes. I’ll get into more about mill selection later on, but I can tell
you that the first thing to look for is the number of cutters, or flutes. When
cutting wood, less is more. On the CNC Routers that you’d typically find in a
woodworking shop, two flutes are ideal.
Router Bits
Router bits are obviously designed for
the kind of routers that woodworkers use. Compared to an ordinary CNC mill,
notice that the spiral cutting edges on a woodworking router bit are closer to
vertical. Technically, their helix angles are shallower: 18°-30° compared to
30°-45° or more for an end mill designed for metal cutting. Also, notice that
there’s usually fewer cutting edges on router bits than on most CNC mills. Two
is most common. There are good reasons for these features, of course. Less
cutting edges allow router bits to remove a lot of wood quickly and to cut
cleanly.
Can you use router bits on a CNC?
Yes. If the router bit is able to
remove wood quickly in a high-load situation — remember, CNC Routers do their work
much faster than mere humans with hand-held routers. Many spiral router bits
will work fine for woodworking tasks on the kind of CNC machines that
woodworkers use: CNC routers. In particular look for two-flute spiral carbide
cutters. They’re the standard for this task. I use them all the time and
recommend them.
wood CNC router
CNC router machine
CNC Router 4 axis
CNC Router 3 axis
cnc router
5 axis CNC Router
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