1/4 inch slot cutter

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

LarryS.

Established Member
Joined
20 Nov 2007
Messages
1,072
Reaction score
24
Hi,

I’ve just spent an hour looking for a slot cutter to make a 1/4 inch or 6.35mm slot about 18mm deep, with zero success

Anybody out there less useless with google than me ?
Thanks

Paul


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I should have said, 1/2 inch shank ideally


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Trend certainly used to offer a long shank 1/4" cutter (1/4" shank though) - I have one.

I don't think the depth needs to match the length of the carbide inserts though - if you think about it, when slotting, most of the cutting is done by the end of the cutter anyway (or very close to the end). So as long as the cutter isn't narrower than the shank, and the shank is long enough, and you are clearing waste from the hole* you're good.

That said, spiral upcut and downcut bits seem to be longer, albeit at a price. Have a look at Wealden's site - if anybody sells what you want, it'll be them.

But personally, I'd use a 1/4" collet: a 1/2" shank is a nuisance, as you can't fidget the bit lower if you need to, the shank gets in the way of good sightlines (or can do), and if you try to go too deep you will scuff the shank on the top of the workpiece. Not worth it, IMHO.

E.

*Obviously in a router table this should be less important as gravity is working for you, but the nearer you get to a zero-clearance insert in the plate, the less space there is for the chips to escape, and thus slots do clog. Steve Maskery did a neat mod to his router table to pretty much eliminate clogging when slotting. He wrote it up here a while back: use 'search' to find it.
 
This suggests to me that you are looking for a winged cutter rather than a straight cutter, because there are hundreds of options for 6mm straight cutters which will cut that deep. Very few of them wouldn't manage that.

I found one immediately on the Wealden site, albeit it has an 8mm shank (you might need an adaptor for your collet). T5618 will do a 6mm slot 22mm deep.
 
MikeG.":1qjyegj4 said:
This suggests to me that you are looking for a winged cutter rather than a straight cutter, because there are hundreds of options for 6mm straight cutters which will cut that deep. Very few of them wouldn't manage that.

I found one immediately on the Wealden site, albeit it has an 8mm shank (you might need an adaptor for your collet). T5618 will do a 6mm slot 22mm deep.

Thanks Mike yes it is a winged cutter I’m after on the presumption it’s better for dust extraction and safety for rails, but I was after 6.35mm just to leave some wiggle room for a 6mm panel, I’d found the wealdon site but they are out of stock so I’m planning to follow up with them on Monday to see if they’ve got any coming in, just hoping there was somewhere that had stock (in case wealdon have a long lead time)




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Why 18mm deep if you don't mind me asking?

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
 
MikeG.":1dj7kqhn said:
I think Wealden make their own stuff.

I didn’t realise that, will send them a message now to see when back in stock


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
sammy.se":zw9vzjl1 said:
Why 18mm deep if you don't mind me asking?

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

I’m planning on making a few framed cabinets in the Peter Millard (of this parish) style


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
sammy.se":zmevaf6y said:
Why 18mm deep if you don't mind me asking?

+1 if it's just a panel recess it doesn't need to be that deep if using a 6mm thick panel.
 
Wealden tools won’t have stock until March, so I’m going to do a wider trawl, or buy the 6mm and just run items twice


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Back
Top