Feed Rates and cutters for wood panels

[Shinobiwan]

Hi jimbo,

If 3500mm/min is the max rapids of the machine then I doubt you'll be cutting with any decent DOC at 3m/min. For me that's too close for comfort to the performance headroom. I might be wrong and they can run the machine at 5m/min or whatever and just choose 3.5m/min to be conservative.

I can tell you cutting MDF slowly quickly dulls TCT bits and I wouldn't even bother with HSS as they'll last even less.

I cut around 6-7m/min with 6-9mm DOC in MDF but really depends on your machine. Spindle speed and the number of flutes is important too. If your really going to cut at slow speeds then definitely stick to single flutes. Don't thrash the shit out the spindle either. MDF doesn't need 24k rpm and the slower you go the less rpm you'll ideally use. There's a point where you'll run out of torque on your spindle though so I've found 10-12k rpm is fine for the feeds I mentioned above.

You can get away with cutting at slow speeds such as 2-3m/min but make sure your using the right cutter and keep you spindle speed as low as you can otherwise the cutter rubs rather than cuts and that leads to burning and short tool life.

For wood people think speed is a luxury but having had a machine that cuts at similar rate to what your looking at and now one that cuts it how its supposed to I can tell you its world of difference.