noob

[joethegasman]

Hi folks!

I am the recent purchaser of a shiny new Piranha! my Christmas present to myself so says my wife.

While driving around peddeling propane I have some time to let my mind wander a bit and have come up with a couple of noob questions.

1. what would be a BASIC set of starter bits be? I plan on using the machine to do relief carvings on the jewelry boxes I make, with some photo v-carve ideas in the works as well. I'm thinking end mill and ball nose 1/4 and 1/8 " ?

2. and a bit more out there, Has anyone considered a DC spindle motor instead of a bosch colt? I think a custom clamp would need to be made to accomodate the smaller housing, but the biggest advantage i think would be longevity of the motor and quieter operation. I noticed that the chuck on the colt heats up rather quickly and this gives me a bit of concern if i were to use it for longer jobs.

Wow, i just got the thing a week ago and already I want to modify it!

[milo30]

The most common bits used are an end mill .25", a 90 degree .5" or .25" and a 60 degree .25" vbit for me. Those do 90 percent of everything that I do. I also have smaller end mills for when needed for tight areas. Also for planing the table or large surfaces I use a bit similar to this https://www.magnate.net/ProductDetails. ... Code=PG136. You cut so shallow that you can run a 1" or 1.5" bit with the colt easily and it saves a lot of time. As far as round nose bits, I'll leave that to someone else to recommend as I really never use them.

I can get by myself on about 5 bits if I had too.