Chip build up cutting grooves

@bkwoood how many cutting edges are on your 1/4” compression bit? I think you could go faster than 80ipm, especially if you have a 3 flute bit. Regardless, you’re chipload is .002”-.003” at the speeds and feeds you’re using. The 1F can hang from a rigidity standpoint. I’d shoot for a chip load in the .005”-.006” range and see if that helps. It’s not quite an industrial level machine, but I find it handles 50-75% of advertised chip loads no problem. Maybe even 100% in certain cases, although haven’t tested that myself.
Also, maybe you’ve tried this, but if you re-run the program does it get the chips out? Easier than a screwdriver and I bet a pretty quick run time. If that works, you could simply add a “finishing pass” at full depth with no offset that’s used as a chip clearing pass. Essentially repeating the last pass in each slot a second time. That could be a really quick solution.
One other thought, you may consider ramping into the material if you’re not already. Might be a little tricky with those nicely curved slots you’ve designed, but could help at the start to avoid a chain reaction of build-up for the rest of the cuts.
I run a 1/4” compression bit in birch ply and use the approach @JimHatch described. My first pass is deeper than the “mortise height” that Yonico advertises so that I take advantage of the down cut potion of the bit that’s higher up the tool. I try to keep my depth of cut less than 1 cutter diameter (.25” in this case) and maintain equal steps, but that’s not a requirement. Just my toolpath OCD :joy:.
I believe I ran that thing at 180ipm and 16K rpm. Lots of noise, but beautiful edge quality and no chips stuck in the slots. Room for improvement on those feeds and speeds. Loudest when the machine was slowing down to change directions. Quiet when going fast in the straight cuts. Maple will be different, but I still think 80ipm is the culprit here.
Cool part! What’s it for?

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