CNC: Cutting Acrylic Without Melting
CNC Milling Acrylic The biggest challenge with acrylic is 'chip welding'—where the friction melts the plastic back onto the bit. 1. Tooling Use a Single Flute O-Flute bit. More flutes lead to more heat and less chip clearance. 2. Speeds and Feeds RPM: High (approx 18,000) Feedrate: Fast (approx 40-60 IPM) DOC: Shallow (0.5mm per pass) 3. Cast vs. Extruded Always use Cast Acrylic for machining. Extruded acrylic has a lower melting point and is much harder to cut cleanly. 4. Coolant If available, use a compressed air blast to clear chips immediately. Even a tiny bit of air prevents the chips from re-melting.
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