How fast can you cut with your homemade CNC?

Click on your maximum cutting speed (for whatever materials you commonly cut).

cutting speed is based on spindle speed, theres also rapid speed,
my old setup, I would cut aluminum up to 50ipm, now up to 20,
I seem to get pretty stable rapids up to 200ipm but have it at 120 to make sure.

Jon

I am using a 233 Mhz computer and above 120 ipm the axis sometimes pause to get additional data for the cuts.

It can get over 100 IPM, but is turned down. That let's me have more time to hit the e-stop if needed.

mine can cut at 75 IPM.

My little Nema23 steppers running from 14 volts on resistor limited full-step drivers will max out at 9IPM but will loose steps towards the ends of the rails ... so I run at 4-6IPM to keep it happy. It's SLOW, but way faster than hand tools!

CP

It's interesting that more people are either in the 10-50and 100-300 IPM brackets than in the 50-100 bracket. Not following the usual bell-shaped curve.

I wonder, is this because people are polarizing towards two seperate goals -- either to build affordable CNC or to see how fast/powerful they can build?

Or is it perhaps some other cause -- for instance, the people who built 10-50IPM CNCs are mainly cutting fine detail, wax, and the people who built 100-300 IPM machines are mainly building CNC routers?

I think the 10-50 is due to the affordable CNC factor.

I have a belt driven X axis that can cut at 800IPM but it's pretty useless at that speed because my Y axis max cutting speed is 90IPM. Unless I cut a bunch of horizontal grooves I never see anywhere near 800. I leave it set ~120IPM.

Regards Terry.....

This dual Y axis machine I have does 340ipm at night, but 320 during the day due to line voltage increase at night. the x does 400ipm, and the Z 240.
But this is cut back...as above, with a Makita router spindle, real usage is about 280 to 320 ipm for simple broad cuts...much slower for intricacy.

Still building, but will be happy with 10ipm. Another poll on the same theme could be asked, "How accurate is your machine?" IMO 100+ipm don't mean didly if it is constantly .015 out of tolerence. I'm shooting for no more than+-.002. I think tight machines may be harder to build than fast machines. With little experience building (so far) I'm probably wrong and will find speed is an outgrowth of accuracy and vice versa. Don't seem likely though. Loose and slick with powerful motors can probably blaze with speed as the cut wanders all over the place.

My little router (20 X 48) can rapid @ 200 IPM and I cut balsa @ 60 IPM. Cut 1/8 plywood @ 20 IPM. Router bits are the limit on feeds. I use .050 carbide bits for cutting model airplane parts. They will break on the plywoos at speeds over 30 IPM and cutting balsa at speeds over 60 it fuzzes up and needs the fuzz sanded off.

I wanna see pictures and specs on those 600ipm and above machines. :)

The fastest movement we get is just over 40ips

I cut at 80ipm now jog 120ipm to be safe.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15139

Joe

On which machine Joe? What size motors and what type driver and lead screw.
Sanghera. :)

On which machine Joe? What size motors and what type driver and lead screw.
Sanghera. :)

my new one model 2006, HobbyCNC Board, 200oz motors, 1/2-10 leadscrews.

My machine cut at 80 ipm and jog at 130 ipm.

I can cut at 110 ipm also, but spindle power is not enough. If I increase the feed, the chip thickness will be greater. It means more cutting energy. Spindle can not overcome this cutting energy. I use a 2HP router as spindle. I plan to use a bigger spindle.

Will using a larger spindle motoer ( heavier) mean slower speeds or some inaccuracy ?

Mt steppers torque can carry this weight.
My problem is, spindle torque is became inadequate while feed is above 80 ipm. I want fine cut even in high feeds

May I learn your motor type, driver model, TPI value of screw and power supply voltage if your machine IPM value bigger than 600.

tpi value is 5.
Is it possible above 200 ipm with 5 tpi with a stepper system.

My servo system rapids at 1200+ IPM, tell me if I'm bragging, lol.

I've run conversational b-ports for years. Most all of them rapid at 100 ipm. When I built my CNC, I figured in that range would be good. It's a good thing to, as the steppers were less powerful than described...

Not a home made Machine but scary fast

1800 ipm feed XYZ and 3200 ipm rapid travers XYZ.

:eek:

I dont know are there the cipm definition? Else I make up.

cipm = circular inch per minute

Forexample

Radius 10 inch. Full arc length is 2* 3.14 *10 = 62.8inh

If your machine draw this circle in the 2 minute cipm value is 62.8/2 = 31.4

Really I want to know how fast is your machine? Can you say cipm value of your machine?

Hi , Here is some pictures of my machine
http://www.cncstory.com/
my router speed is jog 450 ipm

On my CNC router I can run X at 50, I can only get Y to 40 & Z to 35. But I keep them all at 35 for more reliability.

People Need To Remember Rapid Speed And Speed You Are Actually Cutting ,is 2 Diffrent Things ,pc Retrofits With External Dsp Or Pulse Generators,geckodrive G100 (what I Use)galil,delta Tau Etc,
You Will Genrally Max Out You Motor Speed Before Pulse Train,servodrives Etc,most Retrofits Dont Have Enough Spindle Rpm On Old Machines To Cut Real Fast,mine Will Do 300ipm Scary Fast On Kneemill With 24 In X 14 In Y.i Usually Leave At 150

My x axis is my limiting factor @ 150 IPM. This is due to the weight of my gantry, and the 6 foot long, 5/8th's inch ballscrew wanting to whip. The y carriage is much lighter, and can handle 220 IPM or so, but I am limited by step pulse with Mach 3.

With Rhino/Rhinocam, I set my Parallel Finishing routine to 90 degrees, and then set the Y speed to 120 IPM. I set this speed so that I do not lose any detail as the Z axis struggles to keep up (looks like a sowing machine sometimes!) The slower "X" axis is therefore not a factor as far as how fast I can machine. The other cutting routines are done much slower, just for spindle power/ bit breakage reasons.

Sanhera,

You wanted to see a machine that does 600+IPM....

Mine does 1500+IPM, designed for foam shaping, it employs electronic encoder gearing to overcome parallel port limitations, I'm using Mach 3, pix are on my ebay auction link now.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=003&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=130107507790&rd=1&rd=1

Great replies, I'm hoping to finish building my router this summer I would like some of you guys to post videos much appreciated

I have a bench mill that i have converted using gecko 320's and reliance S243's the a axis has a 10mm lead ball screw that i had belted to 3.4:1. the X-axis could easily run to 300 ipm after tuning but was lacking some in the torque area. the z-axis i had at 2:1 with 0.200" lead ball screw, it will move well at about 150ipm but needs more torque as well. all that said i am re-belting everything which will slow it to the 100-150 ipm range.

Danny

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Currently I rapid at 1200ipm it could probably go faster, for cutting i can do 600ipm but i usually cut acrylic at 400ipm


http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37267

MY G00 = 135 FOR X AND Y AND G00=100 FOR Z

On my little Cutty Shark router, I usually cut 3/16" lexan 1/16" deep and through cuts. I can cut straight cuts @ 150 IPM. Can set the rapids to 300, but set @ 200. I have to slow doen on tight curves to 80 IPM. 2 cuts gets me through the lexan using a PC 690 router, Thompson single nut ball screws, roller skate bearings on X and Y. Little THK RSR 12's on the Z. 425 oz 23's and 3 Gecko 203V's running on a 62 VDC 6 amp lab power supply and an IBM Thinkpad laptop.


I cut steel and aluminum on my mill. Steel sheet, I can run coated cheap EM's @ 6600 RPM feeding 25 IPM with .025 DOC. I use Koolmist 77 and a cheap HF solvent tank for the coolant system.
I can cut 6061 aluminum with a 3 flute coated EM @ 50 IPM. 1/4" mill drill for engraving, spotting and edging @ about 40 for edging and 150 IPM for engraving and spotting. Same speeds in steel for this.

The mill is using THK linear rails and preloaded ground ball screws. (Thanks EBAY)
The Z axis has a ready built IKO cast iron slide with the same NSK ground ball screws.
495 oz Keling motors withe 3 Gecko 203V's running off a Keling 72 VDC 12 amp PS.
It has an X2 R8 spindle running off a 2.5 HP treadmill motor.

I am very happy with both of these.
My little 7/12 conversion works well too, but not as strong as these two. Smaller motors, smaller PS and stock screws so far. I have another treadmill motor fotr it. Then I will be able to up the speeds. Right now I often stall the OEM motor. Undesireable anytime, but especially so for cnc.

i keep mine set at 500 ipm , this is an old test vid from the developement stages , routers been replaced and a number of mods done but overall table performance is the same , lately ive been testing aluminum pocketing at 500 ipm the depth of cut is only .015" but it doesnt take long to cut a 6"x6" thru 3/8 plate with a 1/2 endmill , its neat to watch , the load on the tool is basically nothing , normally i'll cut it at .05 depth at 50ipm ,
what the heck sometimes its fun just making pointless holes

YouTube - homemade cnc router test run

My selfmade gantry mill: X-1000mm, Y - 400mm, Z-180mm, all Aluminium,
Hiwin 15mm rails, 4 cars per axle, 16/5mm ballscrews, Closed Loop Servo Kit-4 www.imsrv.com, max speed up to 350 ipm ...
Selfmade high speed spindle http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12184&page=5 ... Coolant ... I use cooland every time - alu, carbon, plastics ...
Very different cutting speeds, depends what Im doing, what material ...
Mostly I cut 4, 5 and 6mm 7075 sheet then 1/16" 2 flute endmill (1,6mm) , spindle ca 30.0000 RPM, then 200...300 mm per minut , ca 1,8mm deep ...
Too slow? For me its normal.
Herbert

I can run my diy machine at 13,500mm/min or 531"/min without stalling and with plenty of motor torque left. Can't go any quicker as I can only get this with 45k pulse frequency in mach with fixed 10x microstepping. 10mm pitch ball screws directly driven by steppers from homeshopcnc and gecko201 drives. Don't need to go any quicker as it would only wreck the ball nuts/screws. Typically runs at 3000-6000mm/min with wood unless its a small part. Rapids usually set to 8000mm/min.

YouTube - CNC Stepper Motor Demonstration