Published On Jan 26, 2020
Avid CNC Benchtop Pro vs Mild Steel - can we cut steel on a desktop gantry router?
Testing out recipes for cutting A36 mild steel on my Avid CNC Benchtop Pro CNC router, using the CNCDepot S30C 2.2kW spindle and a Fogbuster. Aluminum is comparatively more forgiving than steel, and it really becomes apparent on lighter desktop gantry routers. My Aluminum testing had some chatter, but generally cut well even on poorly optimized recipes. But steel took a lot more tuning and tweaking to find a recipe.
📢 Twitter:   / breakingtaps Â
In this video I walk through my thought process as I tune towards a good recipe, discuss how HSMAdvisor can be misleading for lightweight machines, break a few endmills and have questions about carbide thermal shock. Spoiler: with some fiddling it's defnitely possible to cut mild steel on a gantry router, keep a good finish and maintain tolerances!
End mill was a Lakeshore Carbide 1/4" variable 4 flute standard length end mill, AlTiN coating (L14MTMXZ)
Typo at 4:41 - should say 0.0335" WOC, not 0.00335" 😅
