Cutting small Logo into oak, Which bit to purchase

[ben_marrett]

Hi All,

Wanting to cut our logo into a few things and have worked out we need an endmill/engraver that has a cutting edge diam of 0.005" we only want to go as deep as 0.01" - 0.02" max

Here are out two options-

Specifies it is an engraving bit
https://www.inventables.com/technologie ... raving-bit

Or this Miniature Carbide End Mill from McMcarr?

http://www.mcmaster.com/#end-mills/=mjok9l

Or something from Precise bits?

http://www.precisebits.com/products/car ... t-soft.asp

Also looking for longevity in the bit ie 100s of jobs (is this realistic).

Thanks,

Ben

[Improbable Construct]

It looks like any of those would work given the information you have provided.
Can you share the logo and size you are going to engrave it?
With those small bits I am not sure what kind of detail you will get in the oak.

[ben_marrett]

It looks like any of those would work given the information you have provided.
Can you share the logo and size you are going to engrave it?
With those small bits I am not sure what kind of detail you will get in the oak.

Think i just about need to put you on payroll with all this help here is an image of the logo... on my new spinde bracket mockup.



according to makercam 0.005 will work for the detail in the letters.

[Improbable Construct]

I think I would go with something like the bit from McMaster-Carr.
A shallow pocket cut will probably give you a better finished product than an engraving bit.

[ben_marrett]

Are there any benefits on the Mcmaster over the Precise bits one? Precise is a lot cheaper?

[Cwalster]

I'd go with an engraving bit. It's got a lot more "meat" to the actual cutting portion, and as such can withstand a lot more punishment. I've seen one engrave through a .625" cast aluminum plate at work. At the same time, those small endmills tend to be very finicky, and you generally wont know they snapped until too late. If you do go the endmill route though, I'd use a 1/16 or 1/8 to do the bulk of the work, then come in with the smaller endmill to do the corners and outer walls.

I do question why you need that small of a corner though, just using a 1/16 endmill should produce nice lettering.

[Improbable Construct]

Are there any benefits on the Mcmaster over the Precise bits one? Precise is a lot cheaper?

No, I think either would be fine.
I suggested the end mil over the engraving bit because I haven had good luck with the engraving bits in wood.
Acrylic and aluminum, yes, but not in wood.

I would agree that you should use a larger bit to clear out the majority of the area.
I have yet to try to mill anything in wood that needed anything smaller than 1/32"

[ben_marrett]

I'd go with an engraving bit. It's got a lot more "meat" to the actual cutting portion, and as such can withstand a lot more punishment. I've seen one engrave through a .625" cast aluminum plate at work. At the same time, those small endmills tend to be very finicky, and you generally wont know they snapped until too late. If you do go the endmill route though, I'd use a 1/16 or 1/8 to do the bulk of the work, then come in with the smaller endmill to do the corners and outer walls.

I do question why you need that small of a corner though, just using a 1/16 endmill should produce nice lettering.

Ill double check my sizing.... dont think your able to set that up in makercam with toolchanges etc?

[madmanmoe]

One problem with engraving in wood, is that the engraved portion looks almost identical to the rest of the piece (where as acrylic has a nice contrast) so the only way to see what has been engraved is to do it deep enough to create a show and / or fill in the engraved portion with paint.
I've had mixed success with putting vinyl over the area before milling, then spray painting black before removing the vinyl mask.

But I agree that a small endmill to create a pocket, will be better than an engraving bit.