Question 2D milling in plywood with 1mm cutter

This video shows a 1mm cutter being used to mill a biplane out of plywood. The toolpaths were created in VcarvePro and the machine was controlled with Mach3.

Hi Rory,
thanks for the great and informative videos.
You could do me a favor and tell me the machine parameters (which bit, how many flutes maybe, feed rate, depth per pass ...).

FOR ME! it looks as if the cutter is flying through the material

Would be very interested. Thanks for your help!

Looks nice, would like to know as well which depth/speed/tool data

I broke yesterday 3x1mm tolls when testing, mainly in corners but I was going with 300mm/min only.

2mm and 4mm plywood in these sort of tests.

- 1mm diameter 2 fluted carbide upcutter
- these are very easy to break
- make sure the part is well stuck to the table.
- use spray glue as well as clamping
- any vibration will break cutter
- spindle speed at max
- feed rate at 1000mm/min
- 1 or 2mm per pass
- with cutters you want the cutter as far into the collet with as little cutter sticking out as possible. It helps reduce vibration.


The 1mm tools are tricky and VERY sensitive.

Best use a 2mm if you can.

Hope this helps.