Hi there!. I have to make many cuts in mdf 20mm and I’m not getting good speed. the cuts are semicircles of 500mm to 20mm deep, for which I am taking approximately 15 minutes. The cutting configuration is 750 of speed (cambam) and 2mm of depth by pass, using milling cutter of 2 flutes at 30.000 rpm. the bit burns a lot, I can not regulate the speed (makita 3709).
If I go up the speed I have lost steps.
I have 4.4kg steppers.
How do I improve the cutting speed?
How big is your machine?
Do you have a single flute?
Zip and upload your gcode.
You should not be skipping steps ever, that sounds really bad. Depending on your board and drivers make sure they are correct. You are not using my electronics so I can not give you specifics.
You can use a light dimmer to control your spindle speed. (this kind of stuff)
Sure it is not the best way to control a spindle, since it is not constant torque, but at least you should be able to reduce its speed so your machine won’t have to run at crazy speeds and miss steps. Select a dimmer beefy enough so that it can handle the current.
Otherwise you can put bigger pulleys, so that the motors won’t have to turn so quick (steppers motors have less torque at higher speeds).
Just last evening I cut two slotted plates for a new machine I am building. It was 18mm thick, plastic/formica covered, particle board from some long lost/forgotten piece of crap “furniture” in our past. Used a single-flute 1/8" endmill from Ryan’s shop… had to press the plastic depth collar off to get the depth of cut I needed. Using MPCNC with Dewalt 660, running at full-speed (30000 rpm?), I was able to cut accurately and cleanly, without stress or burning, at 10 mm/s (600 mm/min) and 5mm depth of cut. Each plate took an hour and fifteen minutes. I assume the “750 of speed (cambam)” is mm/min… you might try a single-flute endmill, slow to 600 mm/min, and go twice as deep (4mm -5mm).
[attachment file=67620]
[attachment file=67621]
Thanks, I think formic is soften than mdf. So my speed is not so bad.
changing the steppers with other with twice as much power could cut twice as fast?
You don’t need more power from the steppers… you need proper feeds and speeds for the material you are cutting and the type of endmill you are using. No, your feed rate might not be so bad but at 30000 rpm you’ll probably do better with a single-flute endmill and a deeper depth of cut. I was just sharing what worked for me on particle board and a full-speed router.
