Originally Posted by chinli  Nice quotes from mariss CR, what do you use all of your machines speed for, ANYTHING? Anything at all? Examples please. |
Crevice reamer answered the question in your quote - getting the spindle from one cutting operation to the next(cuting air) justifies the rapid speed - especially when you are making more than one of something. On a part that takes ..say 10 minutes to cut when using 50 ipm rapids may only take 5-7 minutes with faster rapid speeds, depending on how often the spindle is repositioned for a different feature on the part. Any time the spindle comes off the work to start a new cut, fast rapids save time - picture peck drilling 20 holes, for instance. On a small machine with slow rapids, more time is spent moving the spindle up and down than actually "drilling", so any increase in rapid speed on the z axis will translate directly into the part production time. The same part on the same machine with the same peck drill parameters, but with faster rapid speeds can cut the time down by 50-75% easily. Now picture making 50 of these parts on both machines - the guy with faster rapid speeds is upstairs banging the wife while the "slow rapid" machine guy is hopelessly watching the z axis go up and down.
