Time to dip into the wealth of knowledge to help me with the finer points of 2.5D carving with the SB.

Software: PW3D
What: An internment box for my father-in-law
Material: Cherry
Size: Finished size aprox 8x10x10
How:
Roughing Path - 1/4" downcut @ 16000 rpm & 3 in/sec, with direction of wood grain - Went well and took only about 20 minutes to complete roughing.

Finishing Path - 1st Attempt - 1/8" endmill @ 12000 rpm & 2 in/sec, 90 degrees against wood grain - Failed misserably, little to no detail and all kinds of fuzzies...not acceptable in any shape or form.

Finishing Path - 2nd Attempt - 1/32" tapered ballnose @ 12000 rpm & 1 in/sec, 40% stepover, with direction of wood grain, aprox carve time 2 hours - Still getting fuzzies and noticing that as the bit returns as a climb cut it does little to no actual cutting but does most cutting on the conventional direction of travel.

The 2nd Attempt for the finishing path had great detail but also had carving marks (water lines) throughout the area which I would love to get rid of. (See picture)

I'm not sure if I need to reduce the stepover, change bits, change travel speeds, I would love to figure out how not to use a "raster" approach to eliminate the ineffective climb cut...

I know you all have much more experience with carving than I do so please feel free to contribute as all constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated. The only thing I can't change is the wood selection and what is actually being carved.

Thanks in advance!!

Nicholas

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