From plastic to wood

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knowlzy0791
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Posts: 288
Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2013 8:01 pm
Model of CNC Machine: PAE 110SD Series/Mach3 Software

From plastic to wood

Post by knowlzy0791 »

Hey guys,

Working on a new project that will require me to switch from UHMW to a wood. The end mills I use can do both soft plastics and soft woods. Any correlation between feedrates and spindle speeds bewteen the two materials or is it generally a whole new ball game?

Thanks!

glenninvb
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Re: From plastic to wood

Post by glenninvb »

knowlzy0791 wrote:Hey guys,

Working on a new project that will require me to switch from UHMW to a wood. The end mills I use can do both soft plastics and soft woods. Any correlation between feedrates and spindle speeds bewteen the two materials or is it generally a whole new ball game?

Thanks!
Not knowing what parameters your using for the polypro?, hard to say. I like cutting poly, it cuts sweet w/nice chips!
I use about the same for UHMW poly and hardwood, the only soft wood I've cut is ply (?) and Popular. I'd say let ur rip, if your burning increase f/r or slow spindle.
Here is link, chip loads are close for the materials, I'm guessing you use 2-flute?

http://www.onsrud.com/xdoc/feedspeeds

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martin54
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Re: From plastic to wood

Post by martin54 »

a lot of tool manufacturers will give suggested speed & feed rates for different materials so worth checking the manufacturers website for the bits you have. These aren't hard & fast settings though as it will vary from machine to machine depending on a number of different factors. they are however a good starting point when tuning the machine.

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dhellew2
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Re: From plastic to wood

Post by dhellew2 »

I don't change the feed rate I use for wood but I do slow the RPM's (13k) to reduce the heat, preventing melt and/or warping.
Know your machine limits. I recommend practice cuts on all materials. Dale
You will get old if you live long enough!
Young = time, no money
Old = money, no time
Dale

knowlzy0791
Vectric Craftsman
Posts: 288
Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2013 8:01 pm
Model of CNC Machine: PAE 110SD Series/Mach3 Software

Re: From plastic to wood

Post by knowlzy0791 »

Thanks for the input, I have a 2 flute somewhere but it makes an awful noise when cutting the poly so it sits in the drawer and I use a single flute.

About to do the project finally will post end results.
glenninvb wrote:
knowlzy0791 wrote:Hey guys,

Working on a new project that will require me to switch from UHMW to a wood. The end mills I use can do both soft plastics and soft woods. Any correlation between feedrates and spindle speeds bewteen the two materials or is it generally a whole new ball game?

Thanks!
Not knowing what parameters your using for the polypro?, hard to say. I like cutting poly, it cuts sweet w/nice chips!
I use about the same for UHMW poly and hardwood, the only soft wood I've cut is ply (?) and Popular. I'd say let ur rip, if your burning increase f/r or slow spindle.
Here is link, chip loads are close for the materials, I'm guessing you use 2-flute?

http://www.onsrud.com/xdoc/feedspeeds

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