Well I'm getting closer to having my new hobby workshop, and when that comes I can start my first build. Looking at the plans and kits that are available, I'm confused about the speed people are reporting.

Specifically, everybody talks about the speed of the machine during rapids. For me it would seem that the speed of the machine cutting would be more relevant. I was on David Solsylva's site and saw for the first time mention of how fast and deep the machine can cut. He demonstrates his belt driven machine cutting at 100ipm and 1/4" deep. He claims to be using the same 200oz motors from Xylotex that everyone seems to use. He also is using a standard Hitachi router. I don't know what bout using belts allows him to cut deeper and faster, but I'll leave that to another post.

The projects I have in mind involve a lot of surface carving, where the bit will likely touch the whole surface of the project. I'm looking to turn flat stock into flowing organic surfaces. Knowing that a design can hog out 1/4" at a time dragging a bit across the surface at 100ipm seems much more useful that knowing how quickly it will reset back to home on a rapid.

Is there something I'm missing?