This method is pretty popular, but it sure is limiting. – You can rely on standard cuts that have worked in the past or rules of thumb. You can’t hear somewhat bad and you sure can’t tell the difference between ok and really awesome feeds and speeds. None of that happens because you can only hear really bad feeds and speeds. If it did, you could buy “ear training” CD’s for machinists and Boeing would require you to pass a feeds and speeds by ear audio test before they would hire you. This requires quite a lot of experience and even though it has its devotees, it basically doesn’t work.
Most CAM software does a truly lousy job with feeds and speeds. The reason is simple, and we uncovered in our CAM Software surveys. – Amazingly few use their CAM software, even though most CAM has provision for it. It’s pretty antiquated, especially for CNC applications. – About the same number use Machinery’s Handbook. Basically, it’s a lot of work for a lot of limitations.
This is the least popular for reasons I’ll discuss. This Guide is here to make that learning curve much easier for you!įor starters, it’s worth asking, “How do machinists determine Feeds and Speeds?” We surveyed our readership and here’s what they said:
The answer, by a wide margin, was that Feeds and Speeds are the hardest thing to learn in CNC. We surveyed our readers to ask experienced CNC’ers what the hardest CNC concepts and techiques to learn were, and here’s what they said:įeeds and Speeds are the hardest thing to learn in CNC… But they involve a lot of different concepts, which can make them hard to learn. How Do Machinists Calculate Feeds and Speeds?įeeds and speeds are important, because they’re the key to Longer Tool Life, Faster Machining Speeds (through higher Material Removal Rates), and Better Surface Finish.