Hello,

I recently was talking to Ron at precisebits.com, and he indicated to me that for a 1/4 inch end mill, the "correct" DOC is the diameter of the bit - 1/4 inch. It's better for bit life, he said, and also, it makes machining faster. He thought I could get away with about 100 IPM feed rate at that DOC. I had been pretty timid about DOC up until that point, especially in maple. So I tried his recommendation, and immediately discovered that things weren't going well. Now that the dust has cleared (no pun intended) and I've analyzed what is going , it is clear that I've got flex in my system in the direction across the gantry. I suspected that my HPDE gantry side plates were flexing, but that is *not* the issue. The issue is belt flex, caused by three factors - a) the thickness of the belt b) the width of the gantry c) the design of the system, which has the motor on one side an idler on the other, as opposed to a "motor in the middle" design.

So, here is my question in terms of future expectations and the idea of building a new router: What is reasonable to expect to be able to achieve for DOC in hard maple at 100 IPM feed rate with a 1/4 inch end mill, on a machine that would be somewhat affordable to put together (say $2K or under)? I talking about a slot cut like a contour.

BTW, my required work area is about 20 inches by 48 inches, an unusual size (I build bass guitars). Another reason for DIY, besides cost and that I feel I understand enough about CNC routers now to pull it off.