Project question using x50

hi everyone, I’m about to buy the x50 with the makita router .I know nothing about cnc machines so I would like to get some opinions form some veterans. The main reason for buying one is I want to be able to cut curvy strips !/4 inch wide, !9 inch long anywhere from 1-2" thick out of various hardwoods, maple, walnut, paduk, purpleheart, etc. I currently cut strips on ts, run through sander and glue 3, 1/8" strips at a time and bend them in a jig. It takes me about 10-12 days to glue up one full board. will this be machine do the job? My thought is to cut 15-20 strips at a time from each species, stack them and glue them all in one shot. how long do you think it would take to cut strips from say a board 12 or 16" wide. any imput would be great thanks. butch

Hi,
I think it can do that fine with one concern. Not sure about the 2" thick wood. That would require a long end mill, I’ve never gone over 1". You might want to look in to whether a 2" long end mill cutting hardwood is OK on the Makita router. 2+" beyond the collet could put a lot of load on the bearings, have more runout, etc.

I don’t know what you are using these strips for. One thing to note that if you are doing the 1/8" glue ups and following the grain those are likely pretty strong. Doing it as a CNC cut in a board will mean you are going across the grain and won’t have much strength. If these are being assembled as something like a cutting board you’d be good. If it is structural (e.g. parts of a chair), I doubt it.

thanks, yes it is a cutting board. One of my most popular ones. it just takes me so long this way I can never get enough made…I realize the 2’’ might be a problem . not sure if cutting most of doc with standard length in multible passes, then do a bit change would help. I can live with 1.5" thickness. any idea time wise?. Thank you again

You could also look at doing double sided cuts. Precision would have to be very good though to get a good glue up after.

Assuming you can cut at 100 in/min at 0.1" DOC. Not sure your length of cut, you say 19" but that would be a straight line. Let’s go with 24 per cut. 1" thick would require 10 passes. So 240" of cuts, at 100in/min that would be about 4-5 minutes per cut allowing for plunge times, etc.

This of course will vary a lot depending on the wood you are using, the bit, router speed, etc. If you are doing a lot of these you’d want to try and optimize all of those. E.g. perhaps a deeper cut at a lower rate of speed may be better.

BTW, if you were willing to change the design a bit why not look at doing inlays instead? Make a solid block material then inlay the alternate material(s). Would mean you’d not have to cut deep. You could get real creative with the inlays, do them along with logos, names, etc.

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thank you so much. The inlays could be a great idea as long as they fit tight. gaps in a cutting board is a no no at least in my book.so about 1 hr to do 12 strips, give or take. i can live with that. thanks

I would not want to talk you out of a purchase as this is a great machine, but I have to wonder if it’s the right tool for the job as described. Unless you sell sawdust at a premium, you are going to produce an absolute mountain of waste. You could build a custom jig/track system for a bandsaw and it would pay for itself in material saved from the thinner kerf.