Once again I come to you folks with what is probably a dumb question. I am building the LR3 and have began to do some research on feed rates. Unfortunately I am pretty lost in the weeds on the topic and I am looking for some help. I have seen a post mentioning fswizard.com and I’ve played around with it. Mostly changing the end mill data to fit the one I would be running but that’s it.
Thanks!
Although LR3 is the second CNC I own after the LR2, I am also still “struggling” to get a good grip on the subject. I feel that I should do more test jobs and push to the max each time so I would have a good insight. But time is always against me:)
Anyways I recommend to read these 2 links:
Start slow and work up. The only thing coming from go fast to slow is problems. Look in the milling basics section. I think they have a good start feed rate there. I only do wood. I am between 300 and 600 depending on what I am doing. 300 for ME (everything is different for everyone,) 300 is a safe number.
There are interactions between feed rate (how fast is the tool moved into the work), depth of cut, RPM, and number of cutters (flutes) on the tool which all combine to govern the amount you can remove and the quality of the finish left behind by to tool. Some of these are fixed (e.g. once you’ve selected your bit/tool you can’t vary the number of flutes), others are easily varied. Different materials (wood, metal, plastics) call for different combinations for the best results.
Check out the “chip load” article linked below for an explanation of how the various elements combine.
Sorotec, a German shop that sells CNC equipment, released a pretty simple calculator: https://app.sorotec.de/
Some of the suggestions surprise me since I do it a lot differently, mostly faster and more shallow, but it might be a start.
Check here: