RatRig KillerBee Review Part 2 - Cutting Metal like Butter

After completing the KillerBee build and doing a lot of testing with various projects, it is time to do a detailed review. In the last video, I went over all the options I chose and the modifications I made to the base machine. This time I go into all the details of how you can achieve very impressive cuttings results on your KillerBee by choosing the right tools, cutting recipes, feeds, and speeds.

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00:00 Intro and Overview
01:03 Paying Bills
01:37 Machine Overview
09:00 Frame Improvements
12:41 Machine Bed / Fixture
15:08 Spindle Mount and Accessories
17:04 Electronics
19:57 Probing
20:54 Conclusion
22:55 Outro

[fredhiller]

I work at a cabinet shop, previous to that I was a trim carpenter. I had zero interest in any sort of the machines or the automation process until they showed me how to run a 2000 homag weeke . It’s all dot to dot grid system. I’ll upload some videos. It’s so cool. It Opened up a a whole new world to me. I’m currently looking for a hobby CNC. I’ve learned so much from your channel. You create great content. It’s very informative, presented well, and as in-depth as you need, but it doesn’t get boring. Thank you so much.


I leave maybe six comments a year. I really appreciate you taking the time to teach people like me things that you’ve learned through trial and error. Definitely my favorite channels on YouTube. You and a @Ave

[sitgesvillaapartmentneilsc]

Thank you, very impressive. I am just starting the build on the KillerBee, opted for this over the newer design and just having my plates water jetted now. I knew it would do aluminium but not at those depths and it was a nice surprise to see it cope with mild steel as well. I want to be able to use mine on Hardwoods, some aluminium and definitely on Brass and Copper.

I have a small mill already on my Lathe so forme this is a really big step up to be able to mill the material with a CNC, I already have a Workbee which I use for normal wood and of course that is using rollers, I think once I get to grips with the KB I may well upgrade the workbee to at least single linear rails on the Y axis .

Thanks very much.

[piccilos]

Thal you for the great review, it's very tempting to get one to play with.

[nitacawo]

Very impressive results indeed. Thank you for showing me my request of flexing frame with hands, seems quite similar to Openbuild cnc but the results are far superior or maybe I need to significantly up my alu game, I cut hardwood and just peeked into alu for couple of parts. Personally, as an owner of quite close machine, what would be curious for me to see in the future is an example part out of aluminium which involves different cutting strategies (especially 2d contour cutting out the part) and the attached fusion 360 file with complete CAM, that would compliment your voice info a lot. The voice does not really translate that well for me into hard numbers as a file which you can go slowly through. I am sure quite a few people would be curious as well. Also don't forget to mention which aluminium you cutted.
I buy my mills from ali as well and find them very impressive for hard wood ( like real hard wood wenge, ipe etc.)
Btw I have not heard any chatter in your cuts to call them bad, just some load, the 10mm still was not sounding that bad just getting close, at least in my lame wood cutting opinion, over time I upped my cutting speeds like 5x after a while in certain cuts no real loss in quality plus you generate far less heat but gumminess of alu is an issue for sure...

[luislanga]

Hey, idk if for you it's the same problem and if you still haven't figured it out but I had these random stops you're talking about, using a different controller but also using mach3. I was reading something unrelated, about idling cpu cores and it dawned on me that it could have something to do with the machine stopping. Now I just let some 12 hour long video or something playing in the background and the issue goes away.

[bjopleif]

You should make a beginners guide to the cam, and controller usage for new users :)

[adelbougie]

you are good men bro from algeria ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[kotsios]

Great machine overall i have it for 6 months now. Only downside i can speak of is the amount of wobble i have on the Lead Screws (my machine is 1010 size). Do you have any similar issues too? If yes what did you do to fix it?

[bobweiram]

What's your next machine, a Kern?

[mariolafontaine]

Lube the cut with a very small amount of WD40 once in a while and it will stop sticking to tool and machined surfaces

[ipadize]

3:40 now imagine you break a 200 dollar tool like i did (Through coolant carbide drill)

[stefanr]

Ahhe AhhA hh Eehh Uuzhh, and youre speaking to fast. aaah eeehh ääh.