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)
@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.
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.