Materials for cutting on CNC machines
A CNC machine ensures automation of the production process of carved products, eliminates the occurrence of defects (significantly reduces its percentage), increases productivity and deadlines for completing tasks, and ensures high accuracy of material processing.
What materials do CNC machines work with? How does this or that material behave when cutting and milling? Scope of application. We'll talk about this in today's article.
Basic materials:
Most often, CNC milling machines are used to process:
- wood (this can be either an array of trees of different species, or chipboard, fiberboard, plywood, furniture panels),
- You can also use a CNC machine to produce products from plastic, PVC,
- From plexiglass,
- From acrylic,
- Made from composite materials
- From tectsolite
- From stone (both artificial and natural, including marble, granite and others),
- From graphite,
- From model wax, which is used to create injection molds
And from some other materials.
Choosing wood for CNC manufacturing:
If a tree, which one? Let's look at each option:
- Plywood is multilayer, created by gluing veneer. It is used quite rarely because it is unreliable and easily chips and breaks.
- Array. In this case, much will depend on the type of wood. There are soft options (aspen, linden), there are hard ones (beech, oak), and there are fibrous ones (for example, pine and other conifers). Hardwoods such as beech and oak are best suited for CNC milling. The first one is also characterized by high flexibility and ductility, allowing the production of bent products. Oak is more difficult to process. But both materials are lint-free and allow you to turn almost any idea into reality.
- Laminated chipboard and chipboard are not very suitable for milling. They can also chip quite easily. In this case, only cutting of the product and its two-dimensional cutting (not three-dimensional) is possible.
- MDF is stronger and more reliable. But it is suitable only in cases where it is required to apply a simple three-dimensional pattern. In other situations, it will not withstand competition with the array. For example, it is definitely not suitable for three-dimensional, sculptural cutting.
Other materials and their properties when processed by a CNC machine:
PVC and other types of plastic are easy to mill. Popular due to their low price, strength, moisture resistance, and low thermal conductivity. Therefore, plastic products are quite often milled on CNC machines. In this case, it is important to select the correct cutting modes to eliminate the possibility of overheating the workpiece. In addition, the rapid movement of the cutter can lead to the appearance of cracks on the surface.
Composite - created artificially from different components. Widely used in various industries, especially in industry. For example, aluminum composite panels. Street advertising and signs are often created from composites and translucent plastics on CNC machines.
Stone is a valuable material due to its strength, durability, naturalness and aesthetic appeal. However, it is difficult to process due to its hardness and requires special cutters. In addition, when processing stone, small chips and dust arise, which requires equipping the machine with a powerful spindle and other additional equipment.
3D milling is the most complex type of milling cutting. Not every material is suitable for it. Most often, hardwood or stone is used for these purposes. High-quality cutting on a CNC machine will allow you to obtain three-dimensional images on the material, or entire sculptures.
To manufacture any products on a CNC machine, it is necessary not only to select the material and cutters, but also to purchase high-quality 3D models, with the help of which the control program of the machine will be built.
Where can I get the models?
A huge range of 3D models is presented on our website.
- High quality models
- In convenient stl format
- At competitive prices
- In a wide variety of designs
See the catalog, choose the appropriate options, order!
You may also be interested in the following articles:
- Types of wood carving
- Creating models for a CNC milling machine
- How to open stl file? Programs