How do you decide cutting speeds for cutting plexiglas?

[angryManLT]

I've got a stupid question i quess. As the topic says I'm confused with cut speeds and feed rates. I was working with plexiglas for a while, and used cutting speeds and feed rates that milling cutter manufacturers recommends. I use single flute end mills for soft plastic and CNC Router Victor VS 1530a. max spindle speed is 24000 rpm.

In example i was cutting plexiglas for a while at 22000 rpm and 3000 mm/min feed rate with 4mm end mill. And it was pretty nice, the cutting edge was quite good. But now i saw one guy who is cutting with same cutter at 5000 - 6000 mm/min and that seemed crazy to me. I fear i can broke tool like that.

Furthermore, when i was face milling mdf plate i used 5 m/min feed and 22000 rpm, but that guy was doing it with 15 m/min.

So how u decide speeds and feeds? I know if the cut is too rough or it starts to burn u need to increase feed rate. Or just u experiment till you get desired effect?

[TarHeelTom]

Have no idea what the numbers are, but had to hang out in a shop which was building aircraft windows and windshields.

They would blow mold the plex, then cut it to a line on a band saw. Their basic procedure was to feed to the band saw by hand and fast as they could feed it and still maintain some semblance of control.

They said that if you slow down, the plastic swarf melts and solidifies, and will very often glue the cut edges back together again.

Tom

[Xarragh]

Hi. did you have any luck with the cutters?

Question for you on the victor router. Has it ever reversed the axis when calibrating the home position? i mean when you hit all axis home position, has the Z ever headed in the negative direction? if so do you know why?

best regards!

[Jinan penn cnc]

Hi,different configuration of the machine will has different processing speed.
for example,if the machine imstalled with servo motors and drivers ,you can
set higher speed,and the processing result will be pretty nice.
The quality of the cnc router bits will affect the processing result too.
Abby
Jinan PENN cnc machine co.,ltd.

Originally Posted by angryManLT I've got a stupid question i quess. As the topic says I'm confused with cut speeds and feed rates. I was working with plexiglas for a while, and used cutting speeds and feed rates that milling cutter manufacturers recommends. I use single flute end mills for soft plastic and CNC Router Victor VS 1530a. max spindle speed is 24000 rpm. In example i was cutting plexiglas for a while at 22000 rpm and 3000 mm/min feed rate with 4mm end mill. And it was pretty nice, the cutting edge was quite good. But now i saw one guy who is cutting with same cutter at 5000 - 6000 mm/min and that seemed crazy to me. I fear i can broke tool like that. Furthermore, when i was face milling mdf plate i used 5 m/min feed and 22000 rpm, but that guy was doing it with 15 m/min. So how u decide speeds and feeds? I know if the cut is too rough or it starts to burn u need to increase feed rate. Or just u experiment till you get desired effect?