Vectric's Spring Wreath

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redwood
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Vectric's Spring Wreath

Post by redwood »

Thanks to Michael Tyler for this. I have a question about cutting speeds on this project. When I opened it up, both the rough and finish toolpaths were set up for 3 in/sec.. I have 3HP spindle, Axiom Pro and I usually cut my 3D models at 40"/min. My question is: Am I cutting way below the capabilities of my machine.
Mark
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Leo
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Re: Vectric's Spring Wreath

Post by Leo »

I don't know the capabilities of your machine, but 40 IPM is very slow. I am generally in the 150 to 250 IPM range. It's all relative though, Cutter, material, machine capacity, etc, etc
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redwood
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Re: Vectric's Spring Wreath

Post by redwood »

The material is usually relatively soft clear heart redwood. My machines max rapid feed rate is 200 in/min. For the roughing pass which I probably would cut faster, it's 1/4" endmill and the finishing path uses a 1/8" tapered ball nose.

I do try to stay on the conservative side. I'm usually in no hurry and there has never been any burning of the wood.

With this in mind, does anyone want to suggest a good feed rate?
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Adrian
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Re: Vectric's Spring Wreath

Post by Adrian »

Generally with 3D work you'll never get near the XY speeds that a decent machine is capable of as the constraining factor is the Z movement of which there is a lot in a 3D file.

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zeeway
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Re: Vectric's Spring Wreath

Post by zeeway »

The best cutter speed for your machine is something you will have to determine. Presuming you have sharp cutting tools, and a rigid machine with a true 3 hp spindle, your machine can fly. But I would start at 100 ipm, and test cut. If everything looks good, increase the feed rate in 25 ipm bumps until you get dust for chips or burning material. My machine is reasonably rigid with half your hp, and I run at 200 ipm on most materials.

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Leo
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Re: Vectric's Spring Wreath

Post by Leo »

If you need to cut at slower feedrates then you should lower the RPM accordingly. Adjusting RPM will help keep the chipload under control. Make chips - don't make dust.

Even with a max 200 IPM the machine may still able to cut at 150 and remain stable.

Try bumping up a little at a time, but if you do in fact need to stay low, adjust RPM to make chips. If you CAN increase feed, also increase RPM - but always - make chips not dust.
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Rcnewcomb
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Re: Vectric's Spring Wreath

Post by Rcnewcomb »

You may also find that single flute bits work better on machines with slower feed rates. Onsrud makes a number of single flute bits.
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redwood
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Re: Vectric's Spring Wreath

Post by redwood »

Thanks guys,

On a unrelated question. I thought this would be a good project to try out rest machining. After running the toolpath preview, the create component from the toolpath preview is grayed out. Is this a limitation of this model or something else?
Mark
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Adrian
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Re: Vectric's Spring Wreath

Post by Adrian »

Are you running a trial version or full version of Aspire?

The create component from toolpath preview is working fine for me with the Spring Wreath with the full version of Aspire 8.5

redwood
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Re: Vectric's Spring Wreath

Post by redwood »

I have the full version of Aspire, though I should make sure that was the version I was using.
Mark
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redwood
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Re: Vectric's Spring Wreath

Post by redwood »

Problem solved, I must have mistakenly opened the trial version. Can I safely remove the trial version now?

Now regarding the rest machinining. In the trace vectors mode, using the black and white slider, if I move it from 65 to 64, almost everything disappears. At 65 almost all the flowers are outlined, at 64 there are almost no vectors. The finishing path for the preview toolpath used a 1/4" ballnose. What does this tell me?
Mark
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