Spiral router cutters for reasonable money

[Anonymous]

A while back I asked about supply of spiral cutters and one suggestion was the Lee Valley range. Ordered a few yestreday. I also spoke to our workshop manager and found a set of FIVE spiral milling cutters for £25 :shock:

Only problem was the shank sizes which varied across them.

However, looking further, they stock 1/4" and 1/2" shanked cutters of varying cutter width from about £5 each (HSS of course). They also stock carbide cutters.

Company is JLIndustrial supplies and cutters are here

Gonna order some and try 'em out.

 

[devonwoody]

Tony. Please post a reply on the service and usage :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

OK

ordered two 1/2" and 1/4". Will post results in 4-5 weeks :roll:

 

[Scrit]

The minus side to using metalworking spirals is as follows:

- metalwork spirals have different attack angles and my not shear wood fibres efficiently

- they rarely allow fast plunge cutting as many such spirals are not fully end ground. You need top specify "end mills"

- the helix angle is much flatter leading to clogging and burning in some instances

- the clearance angle (behind the cutting edge) is generally lower, again leading to possible burning. Every material has it's own attack and clearance angles as well as specific helix angles - this means that I run four different sets of cutters for plastics (hard, soft, acrylic and phenolic/Tufnol) as well as cutters specifically for MDF and hardwoods. All dufferent

- all the above adds up to cutters which will not cut at substantial rates of feed or rotational speed, althouh if you're prepared to run the router at 6000 to 8000 rpm and under 1m/min feed rate you may find they work for you

I've tried them in the past and given up as a bad job, I'm afraid, more so since I got involved with CNC routers where metalworking sp[irals literally don't cut it. Good luck!

Scrit

 

[Philly]

Great timing, Scrit! :roll:
Philly

 

[AndyBoyd]

Mike Humphries (Woodrat teaching fame) recommended for me to buy HSSE bits from Tend (designed for the aluminium window trade), as they are way cheaper than normal spiral bits. I have a 5mm 8mm and a 10 mm . They work a treat.

 

[Scrit]

Clico (as in Clifton tools) also make HSSE spirals for the aerospace trade - ally and plastics mainly. They're really cheap because they're in a limited range of sizes and HSS is cheap against carbide.

Scrit

 

[Anonymous]

Scrit

I did order end mills. I know that several members use milling cutters and get on well with them (Steve Maskery for one) and I also ordered spiral router bits from veritas at the same time. Will let you know how they compare in a month or so

 

[Scrit]

Tony

I tend not to rate them too highly. I first tried some years back having read an article by Tage Frid (in FWW). They might have worked for him, butI couldn't get on with them..... I now require something that runs at speed, so I find HSS end mills don't have the life or the performance (especially on MDF....) - although for certain plastics they are actually better than TCT because HSS can hols a sharper cutting edge. Horses for courses.

Scrit

 

[jasonB]

Tony, engineering end mills are not designed to be fed into the work axially(like a drill) because the ends of the teeth do not go all the way to the center of the cutter. Infact on the larger sizes they have a recessed ctr hole so the cutter can be supported at the end when re-grinding.

You need to use "slot drills" these are two flute cutters where the end of one flute is long enough to go beyond the center of the cutter and will give a flat bottomed hole when plunged into the work. You could also use the smaller FC-3 type cutters which have three flutes one of which is over center.

Jason

 

[Dewy]

I have used a number of small end mills for cutting wood in the router. Locally a company makes 3 fluted end mills which act like a slot drill. The 1/4" cutters leave a good finish. I also have a number of FC3 cutters that Jason mentioned. These are small cutters with a maximum width of 1/4" with the largest diameter of 1/4". FC3s are harder than normal HSS cutters and not intended for regrinding but get thrown away and replaced.

 

[Anonymous]

Tony, engineering end mills are not designed to be fed into the work axially(like a drill) because the ends of the teeth do not go all the way to the center of the cutter. Infact on the larger sizes they have a recessed ctr hole so the cutter can be supported at the end when re-grinding.

You need to use "slot drills" these are two flute cutters where the end of one flute is long enough to go beyond the center of the cutter and will give a flat bottomed hole when plunged into the work. You could also use the smaller FC-3 type cutters which have three flutes one of which is over center.

Jason

Yeah Jason, I am aware if this which is why I also ordered some spiral router cutters from Veritas which I will use for plunge cuts.

Very good point though and one that shoun be kept in mind when considering these.

I intend to use these with a tenon jig similar to the one Steve Makery just published in the GWW magazine and so the lack of plunge will not be a problem.

 

[Anonymous]

Update

the J&L end mill cutters are very cheap and work as well as the LV ones I bought at 2 or 3 times the price.

I have used them in the Rat - 1/2" and 1/4" and been really pleased. The 1/4" are a little shorter than my Trend 2-flute 1/4" cutters, but not by a lot and the fnish left after the cut is better.

J&L will be getting some business from me over the years :wink:

Check out the link in my original post for pricing etc.

 

[mailee]

I use a solid carbide spiral cutter I bought from Wealdon and it is still going strong after about three months work! Yes it wasn't cheap at £50 but certainly keeps it's cutting edge. I have cut all types of woods with it including MDF too. I consider this to be good value for my money. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with mailee, I buy all my spirals from wealdon, fantastic on mfc no chips when grooving, not cheap but worth the money.

 

[Anonymous]

Update

I've been using these cutters ever since and haven't used a two fluted straight cutter since!

Superb (and cheap).

 

[Argee]

Does anyone else get a "A user name and password are being requested by http://croeso.typepad.com. The site says: "Protected"" error when opening this thread?

Ray.

 

[cambournepete]

i get it too

 

[ijam]

Does anyone else get a "A user name and password are being requested by http://croeso.typepad.com. The site says: "Protected"" error when opening this thread?

Ray.

It's coming from AndyBoyd's profile picture - I'll PM him and let him know.

Ian

 

[paulm]

Yeah, me too, wondered where it was coming from.

Cheers, Paul