prestonlogan Posted March 20, 2022 Report Share Posted March 20, 2022 I’ve come across some CNC routers for around $200 online. I’m wanting to make custom bait molds. I was wondering if anyone has made anything with these cheaper cnc routers? I imagine you can’t use aluminum with the $200 cnc routers because they do not have coolant, what other materials could I make injections molds with ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishon-son Posted March 20, 2022 Report Share Posted March 20, 2022 yes you can use them...cold air blast from a air line will keep your chips away.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prestonlogan Posted March 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2022 7 hours ago, fishon-son said: yes you can use them...cold air blast from a air line will keep your chips away.... Have you many any molds with one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goclones Posted March 22, 2022 Report Share Posted March 22, 2022 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basscatcher89 Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 (edited) I’m in the middle of cutting this mold on my cnc router. I use the Shapeoko from Carbide which is about 1500 last I looked. The 200 machines may not be rigid enough for aluminum but then again they may work great. I haven’t had to worry much about cooling or chip clearing. I have a compressor with a nozzle near by if I do need to clear something quick. They a fun to play with, I’ve been cutting jig head molds as well. Edited April 4, 2022 by basscatcher89 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goclones Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 12 hours ago, basscatcher89 said: I’m in the middle of cutting this mold on my cnc router. I use the Shapeoko from Carbide which is about 1500 last I looked. The 200 machines may not be rigid enough for aluminum but then again they may work great. I haven’t had to worry much about cooling or chip clearing. I have a compressor with a nozzle near by if I do need to clear something quick. They a fun to play with, I’ve been cutting jig head molds as well. Looks nice. How fast do the cutting parts wear on those routers? Do you need just one style or multiple to make these kinds of cuts? I've been interested in this for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basscatcher89 Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 2 hours ago, goclones said: Looks nice. How fast do the cutting parts wear on those routers? Do you need just one style or multiple to make these kinds of cuts? I've been interested in this for a while. I've been getting decent life out of mine. I right use 1/4 all the way down to 1/32 size bits. I go pretty conservative with my feeds and speeds they tend to last awhile. 1/8 ball cutter and flat cutter are pretty much my go-to then I work my way down for fine detail. I have cheap cutters for wood cutting then buy coated for doing aluminum. I was skeptical for awhile before trying this. Now I'm glad I made the leap. You don't go as fast as a big mill obviously and you have to get creative in some spots but it works out for playing around in the home shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Young Posted April 4, 2022 Report Share Posted April 4, 2022 Man id like to have one & know how to make molds with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fern Posted April 6, 2022 Report Share Posted April 6, 2022 (edited) On 4/3/2022 at 9:29 PM, basscatcher89 said: I’m in the middle of cutting this mold on my cnc router. I use the Shapeoko from Carbide which is about 1500 last I looked. The 200 machines may not be rigid enough for aluminum but then again they may work great. I haven’t had to worry much about cooling or chip clearing. I have a compressor with a nozzle near by if I do need to clear something quick. They a fun to play with, I’ve been cutting jig head molds as well. Wow. I just got a X-carve Pro and know nothing about it. Do you think it would be powerful enough for something like this? How difficult is it to go from design to product? Are you using fusion 360? Edited April 6, 2022 by Fern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basscatcher89 Posted April 6, 2022 Report Share Posted April 6, 2022 6 hours ago, Fern said: Wow. I just got a X-carve Pro and know nothing about it. Do you think it would be powerful enough for something like this? How difficult is it to go from design to product? Are you using fusion 360? Yes xcarve can do it. Only thing that gets rough is those DeWalt routers assuming that's what you got with yours only go down to 18k rpm but just take it slow and you should be ok. I'm using carbides router which goes down to 10k but I've seen folks using the DeWalt routers with no issue. Yes I'm using fusion for design and the cam work. It took awhile to get the hang of it but it's a real powerful software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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