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Thread: Best tool for trimming / cutting through tabs or bridges for post CNC processing

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    Rocking Frog, LLC, Cary NC
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    33

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    Quote Originally Posted by knight_toolworks View Post
    even without a vacuum if you use the right size downcut many plywood and materials can be cut without parts shifting. it's rare when I need tabs for anything. I cut these pretty small parts from 1/8" Russian plywood 1/2 half sheet 30x60 takes 3 hours to cut with a 1/16" downcut bit but the parts stay in place. I added tabs so they would stay in the sheet when I cut the sheet into parts.
    How do you cut the tabs afterwards, Steve?

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
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    cnc routing, portland or
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    3,633

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    Quote Originally Posted by asteude View Post
    How do you cut the tabs afterwards, Steve?
    no tabs I use a downcut bit of the right size so the sawdust holds the part in place.
    here is a sample the circles were cut out of 1/4" bb ply with a 1/8" downcut one pass. the other parts were cut out of 1/8" bb ply one pass a 1/16" downcut bit. This works well but it depends on the plywood/material the size of the bit number of passes. But seldom do I need tabs but it may slow cutting down. but you don't have to clean the tabs off or cut them either.


  3. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Vicksburg MS
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    66

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    I've been looking around trying to find some tab cutting solutions. I'm working a vacuum system, but imagine I will still need to use tabs on occasion and would like to have a good method in place.

    I was thinking back to my earlier woodworking days before I had any of those fancy flush trim bits with bearings. I would just use 1/4" or 1/2" straight bits and let the shaft above the cutting length be the bearing surface on the pattern. It got me by.

    So why not just use 1/4" spiral cutter bits with a short cutting length (like 1/4") in a laminate trimming router to cut the tabs from the top on 1/2" or better material?

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
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    Delray Beach, FL
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    I don't know-Why Not?
    Actually if I am going to use a router and did my object cutting on the bot with a 1/4" bit I don't like having to "shove" a 1/4" bit in a hand router in the slot.
    Although I don't do tabs often, for wood, depending on the thickness and size/shape of the pieces, I may use a router, knife, razor, Japanese dovetail saw, or chisel.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Vicksburg MS
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    I see your point about needing to undersize your tab cutting bit, compared to slot size.

    I have been searching for a spiral 1/8" DIA bit with a 1/8" and a 1/4" cut length. I have found some with 1/4" cut length, but not 1/8". The thing I am concerned about is that the machining of the bit extends well past the cut length, which gives you less room for error on the finished surface.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Pasadena, CA
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    Don't like to use tabs as well but sometimes still best for small parts, I cut it out with jig saw with fine blade or a vibrating multitool with a slim attachment for sturdier parts or a wood cutting disc on a Dremel for delicate ones. Or, I cut the tab so thin that I can break it out without tearing. I wish I had not sold my scroll saw since that might be the cleanest and least damaging way for small stuff.

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    2,383

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    I use a 3/16 flush trim bit in my trim router.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Diamond Lake, WA
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    I use a Rotozip to cut my tabs. Since I use a 1/8" sacrificial board under my material, I can set the Rotozip bit to cut just barely through and the tabs and skins cut very easily.
    Don
    Diamond Lake Custom Woodworks, LLC
    www.dlwoodworks.com
    ***********************************
    Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece; But to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, bank accounts empty, credit cards maxed out, defiantly shouting "Geronimo"!

    If you make something idiot proof, all they do is create a better idiot.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    San Francisco CA
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    I use a Harbor Freight oscillating tool (used to be called a "Fein Tool" before their patent ran out) with a Bosch 3/8" Wood/Metal blade to cut the tabs, then take it to the table router with a piloted trim bit to smooth them off.

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Springfield Mo
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    851

    Default Dremel tool cutoff wheel

    A Dremel tool cutoff wheel works well for some items, you want to locate the tabs so they are easy to cut.
    The decimal point seems to be the most important on the z axis... x & y not so much....
    ShopBot... Where even the scraps and things you mess up and throw away are cool....

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