Need Help Best Bits For Routing Mounted Prints

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Our new iEcho flatbed cutter router is arriving this week and we are getting ready to order some bits for the various materials we currently produce.

Our most common materials are:
2, 3, and 6mm ACP
3, 6, and 13mm PVC
And various thickness acrylics and polycarb.

Our biggest hurdle is everything is mounted prints as we haven't expanded in to flatbed yet. I know there are various mindsets on how to approach this but I was wondering what other bits shops use in this situation? From what I'm currently being told from iEcho we should use a compression O flute bit for acp and up cut twin flute for pvc and acrylics.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Would ACP be cnc knife cuttable? From what I read it is but it isnt. I know PVC is listed as knife cut able from iEcho but they don't list acp at all.

 

[johnnysigns]

Are you cutting the graphics face up or face down on the spoil board?

 

[rossmosh]

I don't know what kind of success you've had so far, but cutting mounted prints is a little tricky. Assuming you're cutting face up so you can use the optical "eye", I'd go with a downcut bit. 1/8" bit should work fine cutting 3-6mm material. For 12mm material, a 1/4" compression bit should do the job. Run full thickness in one pass.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

we actually found the perfect bit for cutting both ways... Onsrud 63-618. our cutter has a neat trick to cut the alignment marks so that they can be read on the reverse side, so everything laminated we face cut and everything unlamed we cut face down.

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

One thing that would be worth a try that has worked well using the Summa F-Series when routing mounted prints is to kiss cut the edge of the graphic with a bladed tool prior to routing the edge. We have found that this removes a lot of the rough edge that you often find when routing the edge of the vinyl mounted print. So, I would give that a shot and see how it works.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Summa Inc.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

One thing that would be worth a try that has worked well using the Summa F-Series when routing mounted prints is to kiss cut the edge of the graphic with a bladed tool prior to routing the edge. We have found that this removes a lot of the rough edge that you often find when routing the edge of the vinyl mounted print. So, I would give that a shot and see how it works.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Summa Inc.

Does it not damage the blades on the aluminum surface?

 

[johnnysigns]

Ideally we'll cut the prints facing down on the bed with an upcut tool which should pull 99% of the sticky swarf chips up into the vac system. We clean any adhesive build up on the tools as needed. Sometimes that's every bed, sometimes it's less. Depends on the application.

 

[henryz]

Onsrud - Amazon or Tool XP.

 

[X Edge Tools]

Absolutely do not want a compression bit for your ACP. Sure it will cut it but that would be one of the worst and most expensive options. You want a 2 flute upspiral for the ACP. from X-Edge Tools but you could also use one of Onsruds 2 flute aluminum tools or Belins single flute aluminum tool and get decent results. As for the Acrylic you want a single O flute with geometry designed specifically for acrylic to achieve the best edge quality. the O series bit works absolutely amazing and is of course my preference but you can achieve pretty good results with Belins acrylic bit or Onsruds super O. I would rank the Belin higher than the Onsrud if you don't choose to go with the X-Edge. For PVC a 3 flute slow helix tool with chip breakers and was designed specifically for PVC.