Has anyone carved using prefinished hardwood flooring, white pvc trim boards, azek decking, LVT flooring?
Just curious?
All of those are usable I’d imagine. If its flat and you have and end mill/bit that can cut it, it can work. The consideration that comes to mind is that those are all most all laminated materials, so the top finish is likely to be removed to reveal the interior layers. That could or could not matter depending on your use, but lots of wood and PVC are commonly cut on these and similar machines. I hope that helps.
I’ve used LVP flooring extensively (mostly for coasters), and Corian. Both cut extremely well. When using vinyl flooring, I’ve found that light colored flooring with a dark core seem to do the best. I started out with 1/4" thick Smartcore Pro from Lowe’s, but have since switched over to 1/8" self-stick flooring, then sticking self-stick cork backing on it. I also used PVC to make these horizontal post supports for a screen room I built. Corian is mostly used for cutting boards or misc. plaques, such as this garden size replica of my wife’s parents headstone. I’ve actually cut very little wood. It’s too messy for my really small shop.
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How deep do you cut with the flooring, and is it mostly v-carve?
I find that .035" seems to be my go-to starting depth. Sometimes I will adjust +/- 0.005" depending on the size of the detail I’m doing. Also, my go-to bit is a 30 degree, which provides decent detail and cleans up well. I’ve done a lot of both V-carving and straight carving. I find that many times it requires 2 program runs to clean it up good when V-carving. When cutting with a straight end mill, I usually go around the profile of shapes or text with a 60 or 90 deg. chamfer cutter to clean up the edges. This generally isn’t required when V-carving with a 30 degree bit. I use a wire brush after the first V-carve to clean it up & see if it could benefit from a 2nd. pass.
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