Feed Rate & Plunge

[Butcherman]

I am setting my feedrate at 100 ipm of which seems to be the norm. I read where the shark HD is capable of going 200 ipm, what is a better rate to run at but keep the quality? My plunge is set at either 20 or 30 ipm, of which I think, and now know this is way slow. Of course, I also realize what the plunge is now, and since I am so new to this, at what rate will you still keep quality in the work? Could the plunge ipm be set to 100 ipm?

[Consultingwoodworker]

Plunge rate of 20 is a standard I use on full sized machines with 20 HP spindles.

The machine is capable of much more, but the bits are not. While they can make plunge cuts, there is no place for the chips to evacuate, and a fast spinning bit generates a lot of heat drilling down.

Far better for cut quality and bit life to always use ramp cuts rather than plunge cuts. It will improve both.

Ralph

[4DThinker]

I had 30 years of experience with handheld and table mounted routers before getting my Shark, and agree 100 percent about ramping in rather than a straight plunge. No reason to change what works great on a router table just because a machine now has control of the router. That said, I've noticed some new bits that appear to be designed to plunge/drill far better than the typical I've been using in the past.

[Butcherman]

Could you give me an example or a screen shot of what your pertaining too? I believe I understand, I just want to make sure. I apologize, I am still real new to all of this.

[tonydude]

Butcherman,

Here is a screen shot about feeds and speeds. Just an example. You input what you want in there.

Tony

[Butcherman]

Thanks for the illustration as that helps alot, but I did not see anything regarding plunge vs. ramp. I apologize for not being specific, I guess I was pertaining to the plunge vs. ramp cuts. How would I go about setting that up and or differentiating?

[4DThinker]

In the Profile cut dialogue, find Ramps among Tabs/Leads/Ramps/Order/Corners.
In the Pocket and VCarve/Engraving dialogues, check "Ramp Plunge Moves". I'll usually put in a minimum value of 3x my bit diameter.

[tonydude]

Butcherman,

Have you been watching the videos on the programs? A lot of your questions would be answered there.

http://www.vectric.com/support/training-material.html

Tony