Question Milling speeds in beech.

Hi,

I am about to mill gears and other parts for a ( Brian Laws ) wooden clock from 10mm beech timber, and would welcome advice on practical settings for a 3mm 2 flute router bit. After browsing faily extensively, it would seem that it is best to use spindle speeds of around the 18 to 20,000rpm mark and to set the depth of cut to 2mm or so at 900mm/min. I've opted for a plunge rate of 90mm/min with ramps set on all Z changes.

Do these seem reasonable as starting values as I would hate to ruin either timber or cutters? Incidentally I do have a 1/8" 4 flute end mill on a 1/4" shank - would this work well in wood as it looks much more robust than the 2 flute 3mm router cutters I have.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Hi Peter, I did cut all my planes in 6.5 beech plywood at 900mm/min at a depth of 2.3 mm per pass with a 1.2 mm (sic!) spiral toothed flute. I did not use a ramp and plunge with 600 mm/min, the spindle was turning at 25.000 rpm. No harm done to the cutter and/or the wood.

Hi Speedo,

Thanks for that information, sounds as though my settings are not too far out. Guess I am being ultra conservative on the plunge speed though - better safe than sorry!!

I'm using solid beech by the way, 250mm x 10mm - doesn't come cheap from my local woodyard, hence my caution!!

Peter