I need help. I currently have a friend that needs to cut out 32 singing pumpkin faces. See picture below. There are no lines that are being cut. It’s basically a lot of drilling. I need to design it where the holes are exactly a certain distance apart. The problems I see: will the holes melt on drilling, should I stack several together to limit the workload, or should I make a wooden template. We are talking about 263 holes per pumpkin which is admit 8,500 holes to drill. Let me know what you think, and if anyone has cut this material.
The maslow Z is very slow, so drilling the holes with the maslow is hitting one
of it’s weakest areas. If you have the time to spare (i.e. other work you can be
doing while it’s drilling) it may still be worth it.
If you do this, try using a regular drill bit, not a router bit/end mill. A
nromal drill bit is much better for drilling holes.
David Lang
How would you hold the bit? Is there a chuck that I need to buy?
a 1/4" bit will fit in the router chuck just like a 1/4" router bit.
if you need a different size, it gets far more complicated.
David Lang
I would just make a wooden template and drill a bunch at one time.
Side note - the z axis may be the weak point but there are lot of options to upgrade. I use the meticulous z axis with a faster ratio making drilling holes or whatever z function fast and easy. Definitely a must do either now or later imo.
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You can also just use the maslow to kiss the workpiece to mark the hole locations and then come back with a hand drill to finish the job. I find this a lot quicker and safer than drilling the full depth.
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I don’t see the picture, but what kind of material and how thick is it? If it’s say 1/4” thick material you could try to screw 4 together and cut 4 at once. They do make still bits of different sizes with a 1/4” shank.
Making a template is also a good idea, as already mentioned.
if you are using the Ridgid router get a er16 sized collet for whatever drill size you need, they are a few dollars on ebay or amazon sells them too for more $$$.
coroplast is basically plastic cardboard and is 90% air, it will not melt when drilling holes.
you’ll definitely want a faster z axis and I wouldn’t recomend the stock z axis make or build a better one.
I would stack 4 sheets up at a time to make it more efficient. unless you have the patience of a Buddhist monk, I don’t think drilling that many holes with a template will be much fun.
coroplast is very flimsy, if these will be used more than once probably worth using 6mm coroplast.
the ridgid router is a ER 16 collet?
if so, that’s fantastic news
David Lang
youtube video above shows er16 collets work. probabaly not an exact match, but close enough to the original ridgid collet taper.
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I’d cut a template and drill stacks of 4 or 8 by hand. That’s 1052 or 2104 holes by hand and will go faster than you think. It will definitely be faster than the Maslow doing it since setting up each stack will take a while and you’ll probably have to stand there and watch it anyways. Maslow is great for making accurate templates but not fast for production work.
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