Best wood for CNC machining?

Joseph Shaul

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Madison, WI
Can anyone recommend a good wood for CNC machining with a very small (dremel-for-an-endmill) CNC machine? Preferably something hard enough that any small details milled into it won't be lost under rough handling and cheap enough that a mill failure won't render me bankrupt.
 
What movement speeds are you getting out of your CNC and how deep are you planning to cut?

Any should work for light engraving, but if you're wanting to cut deeper you're going to need a bigger router. I've had good luck using a roto-zip cutting oak and popular, but my dremel would burn the wood (even on soft wood) and the bit due to the high speeds and quality of the bits.

A roto-zip is much lighter than a full size router, but still able to allow use of 1/4" router bits.
 
What movement speeds are you getting out of your CNC and how deep are you planning to cut?

Any should work for light engraving, but if you're wanting to cut deeper you're going to need a bigger router. I've had good luck using a roto-zip cutting oak and popular, but my dremel would burn the wood (even on soft wood) and the bit due to the high speeds and quality of the bits.

A roto-zip is much lighter than a full size router, but still able to allow use of 1/4" router bits.

My son calls my rotozip a dremel on steroids. He won't use it..:D
 
What movement speeds are you getting out of your CNC and how deep are you planning to cut?

I'm afraid I lack specifics, though I think I can safely say "very slow." The endmills being used are also extremely small - roughly 1mm in diameter. The mill is currently being used to cut things out of small pieces of birch ply, which it does extremely well.

Edit: I should also specify that the mill in question is tiny. It's actually significantly smaller than the computer attached to it - and the computer isn't a large one. I think it has a travel of 4" or less in all three axes.

Osage orange looks like a really nice option - it appears to be extremely dense, and should give a nice, smooth finish. Also, it's very cheap, which is, in my view, a major bonus. :D

Has anyone here tried milling stabilized wood?
 
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...Has anyone here tried milling stabilized wood?

I turned a lot of stabilized wood, but don't know how it would react to a high-speed rotating cutter. It's a whole different animal. If the wood has a lot of plastic resin in it, I suspect there might be some frayed edges/melting like you would see with some plastics. Dunno for sure, but a quick test on a stabilized pen blank would probably answer your question. If it cuts clean, you're golden. Finishing stabilized wood is a breeze. I don't use any finish at all. No muss, no fuss, just buff, and you're done. :)

I've got various stabilized pen blank cutoffs that are around 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/2". Let me know if you'd like a few to play with. ;)
 
I'm afraid I lack specifics, though I think I can safely say "very slow." The endmills being used are also extremely small - roughly 1mm in diameter. The mill is currently being used to cut things out of small pieces of birch ply, which it does extremely well.

Edit: I should also specify that the mill in question is tiny. It's actually significantly smaller than the computer attached to it - and the computer isn't a large one. I think it has a travel of 4" or less in all three axes.

Osage orange looks like a really nice option - it appears to be extremely dense, and should give a nice, smooth finish. Also, it's very cheap, which is, in my view, a major bonus. :D

Has anyone here tried milling stabilized wood?

I could stable a couple pieces for you. No charge, just enough asked to pay for mailing back to you. PM me if interested.
 
Does anyone here know if there's a way to vacuum-impregnate cheapo polyester resin into MDF? The homogenous (and cheap) nature of the material makes it well suited to CNCing, but it has the twin problems of weakness and a predesposition towards warping and expansion. If I could fill the stuff full of nice cheap resin, it would solve most of my problems in one go.
 
Does it have to be wood?

There are lots of cheap plastics that do machine very well.

If you are using wood, the grain direction matters a lot, try the wood with the grain running front to back, then try it with the grain running right to left, you will see a big difference.
 
Does anyone here know if there's a way to vacuum-impregnate cheapo polyester resin into MDF? The homogenous (and cheap) nature of the material makes it well suited to CNCing, but it has the twin problems of weakness and a predesposition towards warping and expansion. If I could fill the stuff full of nice cheap resin, it would solve most of my problems in one go.

If you find an appropriate 'cheap' resin, please let me know.
I suspect another problem with your idea. Isn't MDF more glue than wood? Soaking in a solvent solution might just end up giving you a clump of hard shavings and ruin your expensive solution.
Besides, IMHO, trying to make something beautiful out of MDF would be like trying to put lipstick on a pig.
 
Besides, IMHO, trying to make something beautiful out of MDF would be like trying to put lipstick on a pig.

That's what we invented paint for. :D

You're probably right that any resin solvent would dissolve the structure of MDF, and probably cause most plywood to delaminate. Cherry and maple might be suitable, but they're also rather pricey.

Maybe I'll just CNC a mould and cast the suckers?
 
That's what we invented paint for. :D

You're probably right that any resin solvent would dissolve the structure of MDF, and probably cause most plywood to delaminate. Cherry and maple might be suitable, but they're also rather pricey.

Maybe I'll just CNC a mould and cast the suckers?

I didn't mention this in the PM, some guys stable using plain ole wood glue like Titebond or whatever. Some have said they cut 50/50 with water. I did some experimenting with that and was under-impressed.
 
'Nuther idea....

Corian might be a good material for your needs. It is workable with wood working tools and is uniform in density. It will soften with heat so you should test. I'll betcha you can get a lot of free scrap from a local kitchen cabinet makers dump out back of his shop.
 
Corian might be a good material for your needs. It is workable with wood working tools and is uniform in density. It will soften with heat so you should test. I'll betcha you can get a lot of free scrap from a local kitchen cabinet makers dump out back of his shop.

That's a good idea. Corian is loopy expensive, but I'm willing to bet that any piece less than 2' x 2' is, effectively, worthless.
 
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