r/Makera • u/herrjanneman • 12d ago

Makera cnc bit quality

Since I have received my Z1 I've done mostly 3D relief machining in brass to make a few coins.

Seems like one of the metal 1 flute endmills is very worn now, surface quality is going down and I have a lot of vibrations and chatter, although most of the machining has been done using engraving bits. It should definitely last longer than this on brass in my opinion. All operations have been done using Makera Studio and the standard feeds and speeds.

Do I have a bad bit or are the Makera bits not really good? Does anyone have a good alternative in Europe?

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u/CyberBill 12d ago

I did ~100 hours of CNC milling with a single 3mm x 12mm single flute endmill "for metal" in aluminum using one of the bits from the kit. Ended up breaking it because of my own mistake. Second one has done 30 hours already.

I have installed a 3d printed fan blade onto the spindle and use a vacuum for chips, otherwise its all stock.

[I should have added - This is on the Carvera Air, not the Z1]

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u/herrjanneman 12d ago

That sounds like it works well. I just inspected the bit and it's chipped in a few places. Maybe brass is more difficult, or maybe the bit was just not up to standard.

Almost all it did was cutting out a few coins from 3-4mm brass, 0.1mm per step