Hi, Im cutting some 12mm thick birch ply and well… its been going for quite sometime. i’m using a 1/8 bit and the dewalt 611 router. Can i tweak the setting to speed it up or am i really going to have to wait 4 hours for it to finish cutting each board of components? i’ve got about 6-7 boards to cut…
What speed are you cutting at? Which software are you using? How deep are you cutting? How many flutes does the bit you are using have?
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You can increase the RPM which will allow you to increase the speed of your movements (assuming the chip load is kept constant), but there are a couple trade-offs:
- With the heavy 611, there’s more momentum so you may start to lose some tolerance.
- The higher the RPM, the sooner you will wear out the brushes and bearings in your 611.
You can’t adjust it on the fly, you’d have to stop the project and change the cut speed in your project, then start over.
Inventables is still testing the 2-bit cutting system (roughing/detail bits) for Easel, if you don’t have access to it then search for “detail bit” and go to the forum with something like 400 posts to request access. That would allow you to use a larger bit to rough out the bulk of the material and then clean up the edges with a smaller bit.
Hi, Im using Easel, setting 4 on the 611 (22600 rpm), per pass its cutting 1mm in total i need to go down 12mm and its a 2 flute bit.
If i could just go down 2mm a pass it would cut the time in half.
What is your current feedrate?
4 on the dewalt is probably way too fast, I rarely go over 2.
I never cut plywood, but I understand it can be finicky due to oddly oriented grain.
In oak or hard maple, I run a 1/8" 2 flute downcut endmill at 100 inches per minute with a depth of cut of 1/10th of an inch (0.1"). This is to cutout a piece which puts the most strain on everything as the bit is surrounded on all sides by material.
762mm/min
i was going off the dewalt handbook which recommended a faster speed for a smaller bit. I’ll try turning it down.
What feedrate are you using currently?
feed rate i’ve left as per easel recommended 762mm/mini. Sorry im all metric being in the UK.
Keep in mind for mine, 1/10" is 2.54 mm.
If my math is correct, that is 30 inches per minute…I would crank it up…please check my math first.
I am running over 3 x that speed in hardwood. Now, that being said, I know my machine is dialed in and rock solid.
checked your maths and your right. so current feed rate is 30inch per min. so this is the first really thing ive cut. and i have had a v wheel drop off, but loctite has sorted that. so if i crank it up to 60inch per min (1524mm/m) i should be alright. if i also increase the pass depth to 2mm do you think that would be trying my luck?
thanks.
I played around with different mateials and different feedrates to see what the machine is capable of. I started low and kept bumping things up until I was comfortable with the results. The only thing I can say is try it 
. If everything is dialed in, you should be good, I would test on a scrap piece first.
For each new material/bit combination I use a variation of the procedure at Calibrating Feeds and Speeds When Using Carbide Microtools. I’ll start by doing 4" lines until the cut is smooth, there are decent shavings, and everything seemed to work smoothly. Then I’ll carve out 1"x1" squares to make sure it works well in both directions, and to dial in the best numbers. I usually end up sacrificing a piece about 4"x12" (and 30 minutes or so), but once I’ve got the info I can just look up what I used when I’m ready to do it again.
Every material/bit combination is going to be different, so if you use multiple bits on the same workpiece you will need to do the same type of testing for each one. It’s amazing how different the numbers can be, my 2 straight flute flat end mill typically has to be run shallow and fast while the 2 flute upcut ball end mill can go deep but has to be run slower.
I try to run the Dewalt at 1 or 2, which increases the lifetime of it.
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I did a test as per Roberts recommendation and I’ve upped the feed 1500mm/min with a depth of 1.5mm and everything seems good. Thanks all
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