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CNC issues cutting Dibond / ACM

nchachula

New Member
I recently purchased a Colex Sharpcut. When I router ACM it is clean on the top surface but the bottom doesn't cut clean thru the aluminum face. It leaves a bunch of the aluminum on the edges. I tried setting the "z" lower but unless I set it wear it gouges deep in the matt I still have same issue. What is the best way to route this material? I am using a 6mm upcut bit.
 

JBurton

Signtologist
Get a sacrificial mat to put over the bed, afaik that's the only way to get a through cut on one of those
 

CanuckSigns

Active Member
That's odd, with an upcut bit, the side facing the bed of your machine should be perfect because the bit is sheering that side. A few things to check:
1 is the bit sharp?
2 are you cutting in the correct direction? We find climb cutting works best for ACM
3 are you getting enough vacuum hold down? Vibrations in the sheet cause bad edge quality.
 

JBurton

Signtologist
the side facing the bed of your machine should be perfect because the bit is sheering that side.
Yeah, but he's fearful of cutting his conveyor, right? In my experience, nominally cutting through is going to lead to one of two things, cutting too deep, or not cutting through all the way. Less fancy cnc's with spoilboard are ideal of this, since you can gouge the table all you like, and just replace as needed. On that colex, you have a conveyor belt for feeding sheet stock, which is a pita to replace.
 

CanuckSigns

Active Member
Yeah, but he's fearful of cutting his conveyor, right? In my experience, nominally cutting through is going to lead to one of two things, cutting too deep, or not cutting through all the way. Less fancy cnc's with spoilboard are ideal of this, since you can gouge the table all you like, and just replace as needed. On that colex, you have a conveyor belt for feeding sheet stock, which is a pita to replace.
All of the conveyor based cutters use a sacrificial mat for routing to avoid this, we switched from the foam mat on our summa f1612 to 6mm thick MDF and it works better than the foam.
 
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