How to Use a Spoilboard Cutter?
Once you’ve chosen a good cutter for your CNC Router, the next question would be how to use one properly.
Your first and most important consideration is to take conservative depths of cut. Unless you have a very stout industrial CNC Router, you won’t get close to the edge height for your cut depths. Try to keep Cut Depth down in the neighborhood of 1/8” or less. If that’s too radical, go down to 1/16”. You can always take multiple passes if you need to remove more material.
The second consideration is how you enter the cut. The best way to do it is to arc in from the edge. Entering on an arc rather than just plowing straight in gives a much gentler entry, producing less vibration and a better finish.
You probably want to avoid going the total diameter, and oddly, you also should avoid half diameter for best results.
To Figure Feeds and Speeds
Figuring Feeds and Speeds is easy. Select your desired cutter in your CNC software. You just need to make sure your machine, the material you’re cutting, the Cut Width, and Cut Depth are specified.
Specify a cut depth of 1/8” or less. Set your cut width to the width of the passes you’re making. Recommend a pass about 2/3’s of the cutter’s width. Now you should be able to read off your feeds and speeds.
