Aluminum 3D Robot Carved with Solid Carbide Spiral ZrN Coated Amana Tool® CNC Router Bits, Part 1 of 2

Watch Part 2 Here.

Watch as we 3D carve this custom-designed Robot from 1/4” thick aluminum plate on a General® iCarver CNC machine using Amana Tool® industrial solid carbide spiral CNC router bits. From start to finish, this project took well over five full days of sketch, digital design and cut (all the while filming each process) and not to mention the custom frame as shown in part 2 (coming soon).

Pierre-Luc Arseneau from PLA3D.com sketches his unique robot design on paper, scans it to his computer and traces his sketch in Coral Draw to create the vector paths of the Robot. After creating and exporting his tool paths to his thumb drive, he imports the files directly into his CNC machine to begin cutting.

Note: Oil is used for extended tool life and to reduce flying chips in the workshop.

Step 1.
Amana Tool® 1/4" Dia Solid Carbide Spiral Flute Plunge Router Bit with mirror finish #51402 removes the bulk of the aluminum for the smaller diameter tools to perform the detailed carving in the next two steps.

Step 2.
Amana Tool® 1/8” Dia Solid Carbide Spiral Ball Nose 2D/3D Carving CNC Router Bit with ZrN Coating #46286 makes the first of two detailed carving cuts. As this tool makes the pass you can see the Robot revealing more detail.

Step 3.
Amana Tool® 1/16” Dia Solid Carbide Spiral Ball Nose 2D/3D Carving CNC Router Bit with ZrN Coating #46282 performs the final detailed carving. This tool with the tiny 1/16” diameter tip makes it’s pass at 94 Inches Per Minute (IPM) and reveals the amazing detail from Pierre’s original sketch.

Step 4.
Amana Tool® 1/4" Dia Solid Carbide Spiral Flute Plunge Router Bit with mirror finish #51402 plunges deep around the border to cut out the aluminum Robot for the next stage, frame building and mounting as seen in Part 2.

Feed, Speed & Step Down Technical Information:

1/4" Dia Solid Carbide Spiral Flute Plunge Up Cut Router Bit with Mirror Finish #51402
Feed Rate (IPM): 75
Speed (RPM): 21,000
Chip Load (Per Tooth): 0.0035”
Step Down (Per Pass): 0.0625”

1/8” Dia Solid Carbide Spiral Ball Nose 3D Carving CNC ZrN Coated Up Cut Router Bit #46286
Feed Rate (IPM): 105
Speed (RPM): 21,000
Chip Load (Per Tooth): 0.0025”
Step Down (Per Pass): 0.0625”

1/16" Dia Solid Carbide Spiral Ball Nose 3D Carving CNC ZrN Coated Up Cut Router Bit #46282
Feed Rate (IPM): 94
Speed (RPM): 21,000
Chip Load (Per Tooth): 0.0015”
Step Down (Per Pass): 0.0156”

Robot designed by Pierre-Luc Arseneau, visit Pierre's websites http://www.pla3d.com

Robot Built with Amana Tool® Solid Carbide Spiral O Flute and Spiral 2D/3D Carving CNC Router Bits, by ToolsToday.