Hello,
I work with ABS and it tends to snag using a router so I wanted to know if anyone has had success cutting it with the Maslow?
Thanks,
Bruce
Well, I am still experimenting with my ABS.
Check this forum link out for possible ideas.
Dlang & Aluminumwelder both have good tips concerning ABS at the above link.
…I myself have cut it. I am not sure what you mean by “snagging” My problems came from the plastic melting on/around the cutting bit and “balling”, (collecting more an more plastic onto the spinning bit until it either flew off or jammed the bit. I have had the router sled ‘snag’ on material edges, but this could happen with any material depending on the edge/edge angles/material thickness.
Cheers
When I usually cut ABS I’m starting off with a jigsaw rough cut then following up by placing the work on a template and then using a router with a flush trim bit to make it nice and clean. I’ve noticed that when I move the material slowly with a high cutting speed I’ll get the melting/curling you’ve mentioned. I have to find the right movement speed to match my cutting speed so that no melting occurs. I’ve tried a combination of both and found that it doesn’t matter how fast or slow I move as long as I adjusted for the rate of cutting speed. Hopefully this info helps you and you can experiment on the Maslow. Please let me know your results if you get around to testing this out. On a side note, are there parameters where I can adjust the movement speed of the router? I’m assuming this is possible but every video I see online shows it moving very slowly. I haven’t seen one moving quickly.
The maslow is a very slow machine, in theory, the motors can move you up to ~48
inches per min (the default caps this around 30)
This is why you almost always want to run the router at it’s slowest speed (or
switch to a spindle that can go even slower), and run a single-flute bit
look up ‘feeds and speeds’ for cutting ABS and you will see that the recommended
feed rates are MUCH higher than the maslow can move.
David Lang