Cutting Speeds on your Router

[Shawn Morley]

Hello everyone,

I purchased a ShopSabre 4814 late spring early summer, got lots of advice from you all on here. I'm curious to know what kind of speeds you cut at, what is realistic on this machine. Everything runs on a ballscrew, I have a 12hp HSD spindle, which is actually a 10hp I am told. I realize this can be a broad question so lets trim it down some. I am referring to speeds relating to cutting cabinet parts, mainly 3/4 white melamine and various mdf veneer core. Thanks for all your input.

Shawn

[james mcgrew]

material is a better standard than just feed,, we run 400-600 ipm,, to many companys advertise 1200 but that is a rapid speed

[Jim Underwood]

It all depends on the material, the bit used, the type of work you're doing, and your machine.

The best advice I can give is to get a copy of a chip load calculator, and figure out what works best for you. I've got an excel file that helps explain and calculate. I don't think I can post it here, but if you'll PM me with your email address, I can shoot a copy to you.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

to slow it will burn up, too fast it will break Ideal as close to breaking with out breaking. If you haven't broken a bit, you haven't maximized the efficiency of a CNC. Just hope that the bit you break is not a PCD. Just before it breaks the edge quality will diminish. It would be helpful if yours has a variable pot to control your speeds. What you can achieve in a straight line is different than what you can do on small arcs. Find a happy medium. Like Jim said we need more input. Hope this helps and ...

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

You should have enough spindle power to cut at 1000ipm. But I don't know if your machine is rigid enough. We have a Morbidelli with a 15HP spindle, and cut 3/4" white melamine at 1080ipm and 15,000 rpm with a 3 flute compression spiral.