INSTRUMENT PANEL HOMEPAGE - high speed CNC Milling Machines for instrument panel machining in aircraft, car, aerospace and electronics applications.

Milling or Machining Plastic instrument panels and composite instument panels can be similar to machining aluminum instrument panels in that sharp tools are more beneficial than very hard-edged tools. That said, for plastic instrument panels being machined or milled from fiber reinforced plastics that contain glass or ceramics, carbide tools or hardened steel tools are required.

Feeds & Speeds for Machining Plastic Instrument Panels: This is where the true benefit of Datron high-speed machining centers comes in. Machining plastic instrument panels really requires high speed. Slower spindle speeds allow heat to build up and melt the plastic instrument panel rather than cutting it. Higher spindle speeds throw chips out of the cutting channel and prevent long chips from bird-nesting around the tool and melting to it. High feeds get you from one place to another quickly without leaving the tool in one vicinity for too long heating the material up. But, since small tooling is often required for the instrument panels, you can’t have high feeds without high spindle speed because it will result in unaccepatable tool breakage. Moral of the story is that if you’re machining plastic or composite instrument panels, you need a Datron.