Carving machine build
 

Planning my third machine which willbe a 4x4. 1st was 18" by 128" indexer modified with a MM gantry and the second is a Joe's 4x4CNC Hybrid. The indexer is a real workhorse and the Joe CNC is a nice entry level machine for light duty work. Now I need a workhorse to do carvings. The big factor is to reduce carving time with .065" ballnose for finish pass. 20 hour finish passes kill a lot of projects.

Important points:

1. What is the max IPM for a .065", .125" .25" and .5" ball nose at 21,000RPM
2. R&P or ball screw? At expected speeds of 300 IPM I think that 3/4" ball screw is the answer. With all the short runs I believe the R&P has too much play at these speeds.
3. Z axis will be ball screw and run a speeds up to 200 IPM with safe Z at .05".
4. Y car from 3/4" and 1/2" aluminum. The Hybrid will mill the al abeit slowly.

All sugestions appreciated.


more to come.