3D carving feed and speed

I will carve my biggest work ever at this time. A design and make projects (Vectric Aspire). Its a memorial 16"x16". I’ll upload a preview.

What’s is the best speed and feed for 3d carving (roug and finishing toolpath).

My preset for the rough : 1/4 end mill 100ipm/35ipm at 18000rpm (8% passover)
Preset for the finish pass: 1/8" ballnose 90ipm/35ipm at 18000rpm (4% passover)

Material is maple wood

@GuillC - Personally I would increase roughing feed to 120/60ipm @ 17000rpm with 40% stepover. Finishing (since there is less cutting) 120/60 @ 17000rpm with 8% stepover. These numbers I have used in red and white oak with no issues and they should reduce your overall time quite a bit. If you don’t feel comfortable with the feeds by all means use yours but the stepovers will still reduce your overall time.

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While “speed and feed” are part of it, Chip Load is what you should be considering more. Vectric products calculate Chip Load for you in the Tool Database records. I won’t typically change much in the database, but I do make adjustments in the Tool Toolpath/Edit section.

My Shapeoko machine (3 years old now without problems or adjustments) is comfortable with a Chip Load of 0.0019 inches. I typically stay at an RPM of 18000, and change to 10000 for plastic. The reason I change RPM is to cut down on burning and melting. (Purpleheart wood just loves to burn.)

My Feed Rate is generally either 35 inches/minute or 70 inches/minute. I usually keep my Plunge Rate the same as Feed Rate.

As an example, if I change my RPM setting from 18000 to 10000, my Chip Load will change to 0.0035". So, in that case since my Feed Rate is at 70, I would adjust Feed Rate to 38 to maintain the 0.0019" Chip Load.

I produce good results with this method and haven’t broke or wore out my machine. Of course, there are variations made based on the product I’m cutting as I get to know the material and the way it is being cut (the toolpaths) because that’s why we’re the operator. :smiley: