Mini CnC materials question

[Graeme123 (Graeme caiger)]

Finishing off my flashcard box project. Wanted to Refresh and apply knowledge from a semi recent CnC induction.

I wanted to use the mini CNC to cut slots for card separators such that they could be glued in place more firmly. 4mm wide 20cm long and 2mm deep channels. In a 4mm deep piece of plywood. (previously lasercut)

In the induction we used quite a sizeable piece of hardwood stock. Would ply count as softwood here or is it not a suitable material to cut in the CnC ? Should I be using some kind of sacrificial wood for a job so thin ?

[Amit_Kohli]

You might have difficulty cutting 20cm in one pass (remember our stops reduce the bed dimension some)…

But yeah, it’s softwood. The 2mm depth sounds like it’s not a problem… but since your stock is only 4mm that’s cutting it close. If you’re off even a little on your zeroing it could be bad. I would use a sacrificial piece underneath just in case.

A good rule of thumb is to always use something under if you’re unsure. Then the only problem is how to clamp both down. I might think about using 2-sided carpet tape to glue the ply onto the stock and clamp the stock

[asander1 (Andy Sanderson)]

Success!

[Amit_Kohli]

lol! Did u screw in?!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before! I guess that top brace thingie is thinner than the clearance? How do u set that in VCarve actually?

[asander1 (Andy Sanderson)]

Its basically strapped down with a scrap of laser ply… so the screws are just in that, not the actual project stock…

Worked great! The default clearance was enough… but you can change it…

You can set the clearance in VCarve using “Rapid Z Gaps above Material” in the material settings, this is 100% needed on the Big CNC because the clamps are so high…