Carving into Walnut, does this sound ok?

Hey guys. So I do quite a bit of carving into Walnut these days. I’m doing a 3d roughing path, running at 80ipm, 40 plunge, .1" DOC 40% stepover. These settings seem to work pretty well, but I’m curious if the noise the bit makes when I’m cutting right to left. Is this something to be concerned over, or is this noise to be expected? Left to right sounds clean.

In regards to the bit itself it’s a Whiteside .25 downcut. Upcuts tend to create lots of strings, which clog my dust collection. I’m fairly certain the bit is decently sharp, the edges are clean with no visible chips I have several on hand for when I get the feeling one is going dull on me.

Here’s a short video:

  1. see this
  2. what RPM are you using ? Chipload may be slightly off, or it may just be a resonance: try changing the RPM slightly, see if the chatter disappears
  3. how fresh is your cutter? A dull endmill will tend to rub instead of cutting, and might vibrate
  4. reduce that stickout and/or use a shorter endmill. Less likely to vibrate
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That sounds normal to me. Think about it this way, the bit is spinning clockwise as it is going to the right so cutting in front of the bit as it is moving into the wood. When it shifts to the left movement it is cutting from behind the bit which changes the stresses on the bit thus the change in the sound. This explains it in a picture.

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Yep switch your toolpath to only use climb milling and it should go away.

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