Get little chips along groove while cutting. How do i stain?

[kristenanne77]

After cutting, whether i use sanding sealer or not, i get little chips of wood along the grooves. Should i sand the chips and then stain wood and then sand again....or stain ( with the chips) and then sand later?

If i sand the chips first and then stain....i have to sand again thus risking sanding someones face off!

Does anyone have a procedure that works consistently for them?

Thanks
K

[dhellew2]

There is no easy answer to your question. Fifty different people will give you at least 50 different answers.
I prefer to minimize the sanding after the stain/finish are applied so I sand first.

My preference is to eliminate as much of the chips/fuzz etc. during the machining process.

Every wood reacts differently to the bits and the direction of the cut also effect how clean the cut is.
Sometimes making a second pass in the opposite direction will clean up the surface.
Try making the first cut under sized then finish with a second pass, a single pass cuts with the grain on one side of the groove and against on the other
A groove made in a single pass will chip out more than making a center cut then shallow finish cuts down each side of the groove.
Try different bits, up cut, down cut, spiral bits usually cut better.
Change the feed rate and bit speed.
I use bits that are made for cutting metal and find they are typically of higher quality than those made for wood, and they don't cost any more.
Check out www.cuttingtoolsource.com

Have you tried gel stains instead of liquid?
Water based stain will raise the grain more than solvent based stains.

Good luck, Dale

[kristenanne77]

I tried doing two passes, first one undersized and second one normal depth. But they were in the same direction.
I think it helped a little. But still had chips. Also, after sanding, I tried an oil wipe-on type of oil stain which colored the grooves with less sanding than the regular stain I have been using.(of course this is subjective)

How do reverse direction?
Currently I start with origin at lower left (x=0,y=0, z =0).
For the reverse direction, should I make another identical pvc file with the origin at the upper right (x=max, y=max, z=0) ??
Would this "trace" the first set of diagonal cut lines?
(I don't think you can set up Photovcarve to do a second pass in a different direction in one go.)


thanks
K

[signmarketingman]

whisker chips are eliminated with a torch. Light passes then some light sanding.

[dhellew2]

Cut one pass climb, the other conventional by creating two tool paths for the same cuts. You can combine the two toolpaths into one file .Dale