Help

[cpworkshop]

Hi All,
I have been routering a fair bit of 18mm MDF held down via vacuum using a
3/8 solid carbide compression bit. I have been running it at a feedrate
or 3500mm/minute and around 20,000RPM with a maximum cut depth per pass
of 5mm.
I am finding that its getting blunt after only a few hours of use. It seems to be producing almost talcum powder consistency dust. Should I be looking more for chips rather than dust? Am I running too fast RPM verses too slow feedrate. Any idea if there is a simple calculator online that can assist with the correct feedrate? I noted on the CNC zone that somebody said to run a cutter of that diameter at around 10500mm/minute at an RPM of around 15,000. This seems incredibly fast to me as my machines maximum feedrate is 12500mm/minute.
Surely the machine would struggle to change direction on tight corners at this feedrate. Also, the cut edge sometimes looks almost like the bit has been shuddering ie. almost like very fine corrugations. Any info would be appreciated.
Many thanks,
Chris

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