- Take a look through this post. @Randy’s explanation, that MeshCAM does loop the loops, and not barrel rolls, has somehow stuck with me since I first heard it. There is a lot of other useful info in the thread, worth a look:
Hello Galaxy, or, the Force is strong with this machine
EDIT
Are you on a Nomad or Shapeoko? I have a Nomad (classic), and I almost always find the 1/4" bit to be a worse option. It somehow ends up slowing me down in anything harder than MDF or foam.
Also, regarding what you said about G-Wizard, I find that if I feed G-Wiz the numbers from the C3D feeds & speeds charts, and then tell it to optimize, I often get pretty good results. Especially since the C3D chart assumes you’re slotting, so giving it a lower step-over allows you plenty of wiggle room on the depth and feed rate.
One final note: besides being noisy as hell, maple likes to burn. You probably already knew this, but if not, it’s worth leaving yourself a bit of extra material to sand off the burn marks.