Experience Routing Gatorboard?

[FLSignMan]

Hey guys,

I'm relatively new to the site and I have always found the commentary to be incredibly helpful....

We have a Gerber Saber 408 that we primarily use to cut pvc / acrylic letters and plaques, but recently received a request to rout Gatorboard.

Does anyone have any experience routing this substrate? We are going to give it a try on some scrap tomorrow, but are concerned about the paper fronting / backing tearing under the bit rotation.

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!!

 

[AARON_INK.]

Try a straight or down flute tool. I have cut this before but it been a while. Also use a new or sharp tool. Run the speed at about 100 IPM or so. You know your machine play with it and you should get go results. Sharp tool is key and what ever you do, do not use spiral up tool it will rip up the paper.

Hope this helps you out.

A

 

[KR3signguy]

I agree w/ Aaron
down bit

 

[Typestries]

cut lots of it, onsrud 2 flute spiral, sharp bit ( I have one just for gator) 150 ipm at 18krpm no troubles ever. have run as fast as 250 ipm. You may want to apply transfer tape to the backside to hold everything together when you through cut.

 

[FLSignMan]

Thanks guys - we'll give it a try tomorrow!

 

[Routerguy]

Watch the pieces as they like to move when they are almost completely cut out. Thats never fun.

 

[dman0427]

I've had bad results with a down cut bit on GF.
The best results I have gotten is with an up cut spiral, 2 flutes.

You may have to sand the edges a little.
Small letters are the hardest.

Typestries, how well does the transfer tape work?

 

[Goatboy]

Out of curiousity how thick? This is gonna be a bit of a impact on bit choice. Extra CELs generally are for up( soft acrylics,wood and signfoam). Standard down cel is about 5/8" ups are 3/4".

 

[Typestries]

I've had bad results with a down cut bit on GF.


Typestries, how well does the transfer tape work?

The tape works great! Yes, it's a little extra effort and cost but you can cut right to the tape and not worry about the letters sliding all around. i didnt buy a machine like this to stand around and watch it work, and by taping the backs of our through cut letters I can walk away and not worry about any letters breaking loose.

If you cut a lot of aluminum with small pieces, you can spray adhesive a piece of coro to the back of the sheet and cut through the aluminum into the coro a bit for a clean edge—and then not worry about the mist coolant softening the transfer tape. Again, a bit of extra work, but a great trade off for hours of your time.

 

[dman0427]

I'll give it a try next time i"m cutting some GF. I use carpet tape on Metal Faced PVC. Sometimes it holds great, and others not so much. Especially if I'm doing a clean pass.