How fast you can cut?

[15mgtar]

Hi guys I like to know how fast you can cut hardwood?
my machine only goes 2000mm/min I know it is very slow.

[mcphill]

The shallower you go, the faster you can cut... There are MANY flavors of hardwood. Your question as stated is unanswerable...

[ger21]

It depends on the specific wood, and exactly what you're doing. And how powerful your spindle is and how rigid your machine is.

On the router we have at work, I've cut 3/4" deep in one pass at 600-700ipm.

[15mgtar]

ok it is teakwood and how big of a spindle do I need to cut 3/4" in one pass at 600 - 700 IPM like Gerry?

[ger21]

10Kw.

[Boots]

I cut 680 in. per min. with 1/2 in. bit 3/4 in. deep in a single pass full width of cut. With an 8 HP Spindle. No problem.

[Drools]

Does the old race car saying count for spindles and feed rate?
"Speed costs $, how fast do you want to go"?

[15mgtar]

so I'm looking at atleast 7.5kW ~ 10Kw spindle then? but what about max RPM? How much RPM do I need to cut 600 ~ 700 IPM?

[Boots]

Around 20,000 RPM I have a spindle that goes up to 24,000 but rearly ever use it as I don't like running things at "Wide Open". It's like your car....how long do you think your car would last if you ran the gas pedal to the floor all the time. NFL= Not for Long...

[ger21]

Out 15HP is only 18K max, and we typically use it at around 16,000.

I don't think you really need that big of a spindle. 5Kw is probably plenty.

You need to consider a couple things.
How are you going to hold your parts down? We're talking about some serious cutting forces.
And how rigid is your machine. Those big spindles can weigh 50 lbs.
How big are the parts that you're cutting? If they are small, you'll probably never get near those speeds, due to accelerating and decelerating.
Depending on wood species and type of tool, you may need to cut much slower to get an acceptable surface finish.

[Boots]

Like Gerry states...get what you need plus just a tad more for growth. We use 800 IPM feed rates on some stuff because we have a 14 foot long bed on the X axis and 5 foot on the Y and it helps get the job done quicker because the machine will get up to speed and you have to have good hold down. We use a 10 HP vacuum pump. Large parts are not a problem but when you do small ones, typ, 3 in. sq. you have to use onion skins and or tabs to keep the parts in place because of the cutting forces.

[15mgtar]

I'm cutting 1700mm x 1200mm x 90mm teakwood. I use 2.2kw chinese watercool spindle 12mm endmill and the spindle only lasted about 1 month b4 the bearing cracked. BTW is FIMEC HM90-140 5.4 400 24.000 ER32 good enough for the job? I wanna go 600~700IPM. please advice me.