I am still very fresh to my alpha machine and I am machining out the free wreath provided by Vectric this month. I have a large stock of HDU and that cuts very easily of course. I am running at 6 inchs/sec and it seems to be no problems and that got me wondering what speeds would be fast and safe for this machine. I am making 3 for gifts as the painting will be more efficient for multiples. We attended one of Dan Sawatzky's classes a couple years ago and still retain some of his techniques. Thanks Gene