Keyhole cutting

[TomO]

Has anyone tried cutting keyholes with their SO3? Does this sound doable to the more advanced users?

http://youtu.be/aPaQsgoHoRY


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[Fablicator]

You should be able to do that no problem, as long as you get the right bit and have software which can program the movement.

[Brian Stone]

It is possible, but you need to be cautious. If the keyhole channel is too long (say, longer than an inch), then you may need to back the bit out periodically to clear chips. That's not very easy to do with automated operations. You would probably have to manually code that.

Another option is jogging. I used a 1/4" keyhole bit to build slide channels for a project on my SO2, but I cut them manually using the Jog mode. The only problem with jogging is that you can't easily control the feeds and speeds (it's still possible, but you'll need to set up your controller software for jog distance and transit speed). If you go too slow or too fast at the wrong RPM, you will tend to burn wood easily.

[coyn0839]

I cut keyholes with my SO2 all the time but use the manual control to jog it. I probably should just program some code to do this but it is really simple to do manually.

[TomDChi]

My first thought was "hmm.... Fusion360 knows that cutters this shape exist, I wonder how you would model and then generate paths..."

Then I realized, the movement is straight down, straight in one direction, straight back, and straight back out. This is about the easiest thing imaginable to hand code in g code.