carve speeds

[jeff]

Hey all.. just a quick question. I have a PRT standard with a porter cable router. I am doing some carving in 3/4" ply only between .15 - .20" in depth. I am using a 90 degree v bit. I am carving at about 3 ips. Does anyone think that I could carve faster? I can cut this at .37" with a 1/4" bit at the same speed, so I'm figuring i could carve faster, just haven't tried. Any words of wisdom? Thanks

[myxpykalix]

one thing i'd say is carving in plywood is a waste of time unless you are just practicing. The splintering between plys while carving different depths is never going to get you a good quality carving.

I could be wrong but my forays into using plywood to carve never produced anything that was usable. Get yourself some solid stock and i think you will get way better results, even try foam.

[penman]

Hi Jack,

only partially agree. Some situations will work with ply. Hope I can attach a photo, not a good one but you can get the idea.

Cheers,
Roger.

[jeff]

Thanks for the input.. I am already carving in the plywood,, Have been doing so for about 2 years. I am just curious whether I can go faster than 3ips.

[zeykr]

I think it largely depends on your machine and the size/detail of the carving. Do you have a 3g or 4g control board, and what is your communication speed? Also how you set your ramping will affect how fast you can go.

I'd just suggest trying it and see if you lose steps, only way you'll know for sure. Try it as an air cut first to save materials.

[jeff]

thanks. I have a 4g control board. at about 78% communication. Mostly carving words.. Most are not that detailed. about 2.5-3"

[Brady Watson]

If you are doing carvings that are only 2 or 3" in size - You would have to defy the laws of physics to go 3 IPS. Not to sound trite...but it ain't happening.

I've learned that the machine can only go as fast as the file and material will let it go. However, thoughtful adjustment of your VR commands can increase cutting speeds while maintaining smooth movement of the tool. In some cases slowing down the move speed will in fact reduce ramping, and in turn actually make the tool run faster and more smoothly.

-B

[zeykr]

Jeff,
Carving words that size, changing your move speed isn't going to make much if any difference. Due to sharp corners, direction changes etc, the tool probably never reaches the set speed. I'd play with your ramp settings and see what difference that makes. I do most of my vcarving at ms 1.5,1.5 on my prs and setting my move speed higher doesn't make the job take any less time just due to the nature of the machine movement when doing vcarving.



--- Brady was faster! ---

[chiloquinruss]

I do quite a bit of v carving in ply when i build my model buildings. Like all things on a bot the better the ply the better the result. The big box ply makes lousy carving as it is all over the place thickness wise. I will also add that all of my 'stuff' gets painted so I don't get the terrific results like that killer dragon. Russ

http://chiloquinruss.jalbum.net/Some-1-8th-Scale-Projects/slides/MVC-068S.jpg

[myxpykalix]

My analogy has always been that its like have a 60 mph speed limit in an area that has stop signs every 200 feet. You'll never get up to full speed before you have to slow down for the next stop sign:rolleyes:

This especially holds true for 3d carving with ups and downs:eek:

[jeff]

thanks for the replies. I use good ply, and it is painted.. I am currently cutting at 3ips... and not looking for a "dramatic" increase in speed.. It has been fine for 2 years cutting up to 10 sheets a day. I just would like to know if any increase in carve speed has been tried. I will attempt to bump it up a bit tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

[shoeshine]

Hi Jack,

only partially agree. Some situations will work with ply. Hope I can attach a photo, not a good one but you can get the idea.

Cheers,
Roger.

Roger, I've got to say that dragon is inspirational. What a cool use of the nature of a material. Love how the layers accentuate the form. Any chance you might give us some tips on how you got the depths right in modeling that to get the almost topological effect?

Chris

[penman]

Hi Chris,

thank you for the kind words, you to Russ. Afraid I can not share the file as it is a Vectric 3D one. There is no secret, just the subject matter. If it was a horse carved it would look silly, but because it is a dragon, never met one of the animal kind, and they have scales it sort of works out ok. Just carve as you would solid wood. From memory that was carved in 19mm (3/4") 7 layer ply. Obviously the more layers of ply the more effective.

Cheers,

Roger.