I’m going to do a Chessboard (17 X 32). I have it flattened, sized and I’m ready to start cutting. I haven’t done very many 3D projects yet, but when I do they take forever. That’s my fault because I usually do 2 roughing passes and then the final pass. I’m also very conservative with stepovers and depths. I’m retired so time usually doesn’t matter. On this project though it’s ridiculous. I’m wondering if anyone would help me out with bits, stepovers, speeds and depths of cuts? The ones that I have made require no sanding and there are no tool marks. I have attached several photos of my setting. I also don’t understand why I have such a high lip around the outside edge. I would upload the c2d file, but it is too large.
Looks like at most you are removing 0.118" material. Roughing to 0.012, then 0.007 seems really redundant. What is the material? I think I would rough with a 1/4" ball, 1/16" stepover using a finish 3D path, and then just control the “Stock to Leave” by setting my Z maybe 0.010" higher.
Crank up the feedrates to 90 - 120 IPM. You can always start out at 50% & bump it up as long it’s cutting nicely. This gets it down to more reasonable times
Are you sure you need a 1/32" ball mill for final finish? I tried it with a 1/16 and the simulation looks really good. Rule of thumb (for 3D Ball mills): Use the largest ball mill you can to get the detail you want.
It’s a lot faster to compare the options using simulation than really cutting. But, for a project that will take a really long time to cut, it might be worth cutting a couple of square inches of it to see if you’re going to be happy with the output before committing to a full day of cutting.
