So many questions

[zaphod (Joe Stewart)]

I’ve had my 5 pro 4x4 since about September, and am finishing my first project for my first client. Still about a week to go. Have so many questions and don’t even know them all. For starters, I’ve heard there is no one set speed and feed for your bits. How do you know what speed and feed is right for your lumber? Is it even worth it to experiment adjusting them? For instance, I have a 3 flute surfacing bit. I have the plunge depth set at 0.010” and the step over set to 0.45” for my 1” bit and at 18000 feed. Is that good? I’ve seen the calculators, but it’s just numbers to me. I have an engineering and computer background. It’d help me if I had some explanation of what I’m looking for.

Also, I’m 74 and already tired of squinting at my Acer Nitro laptop. Can I get a smaller unit that I could plug everything into and just run my stuff from it? My table I have my CNC sitting on is 53” tall so I have a little room under it to store things.

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

For feeds and speeds we have (very conservative) defaults in Carbide Create for a variety of materials.

For more on that see:

Feeds & speeds

and the videos:

#MaterialMonday on YouTube

@wmoy has begin a series of YouTube videos on #MaterialMonday. For the full list: https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/materialmonday A central tenet of this series is an acknowledgement that the hobby CNC routers need different numbers for different sorts of paths. Thus far he has done: Aluminum: Shapeoko 3: [Aluminum Feeds and Speeds for the Shapeoko - #MaterialMonday] [Machining Aluminum with the 278-Z on the Shapeoko - #MaterialMonday] Nomad 883 Pro: [Sing…

and there’s been a lot of discussion here.

One testing procedure which makes sense (at least to me) is:

Calibrating Feeds and Speeds When Using Carbide Microtools

(I just use the Carbide Create defaults)

Yes, you can get small device for Carbide Motion — anything which meets the system requirements will work, or you can get a Raspberry Pi 4:

Carbide Motion on a Raspberry Pi

If you’ve got a Raspberry Pi 4 lying around give this a shot over the weekend: https://carbide3d.com/carbidemotion/pi This was a quick R&D project and we just got it working a few hours ago so we haven’t tested it too much yet. We don’t know if the Raspberry Pi will become a supported platform for us yet, but let us know if you find it useful. PS- Be sure you run sudo apt-get update before trying to install this package if you’re on a fresh Pi install

Some folks bolt a TV to a wall and use that as a monitor.

[gdon_2003 (Guy Donham)]

The first CNC I had was a Shark. I bought an old retail kiosk and put a shelf inside and bought some monitors that I attached to a double monitor pole. You could do the same thing if your computer had an HDMI port to attach just a 4K TV on as big as you wanted. Make yourself a little desk for your laptop or like I did buy a dedicated small form factor computer. I used a 50" tv in my bedroom and the laptop to design and then transfered the files to a usb memory stick and moved that to the dedicated laptop in the shop next to the cnc.

Here is my setup in the house.

My laptop has an hdmi output that I attach to the TV and that makes a very big monitor.

When I go to my Grandson’s house he has an older 720p TV in the bedroom and it is not nearly as clear as this 4K television. You can buy a 4K tv at Walmart cheap and get a wall mount bracket cheap at Walmart or Harbor Freight. I have a tv wall mount in the living room that also articulates so it can be pulled away from the wall and turned for easier viewing.

Here is a Harbor Freight example.

I am with your on the squinting. I am 69 and like having a big screen tv to look at my designs and internet on.

[FlagMan (Rich Nichols)]

Get yourself a small flat screen and get a HDMI top your lap Top.
Good Luck Rich