Routers and Keeping the Edge
Routers and Keeping the Edge
The cost of your router tooling can range from a few pounds to hundreds of pounds so cutter care is imperative to maintain your investment so here is some tips for you a DIY'er and seasoned pro's!
The anatomy of a basic Tungsten Carbide Tip (TCT) router has the following parts.
Steel Body - Sounds obvious but High Speed Steel (HSS) router cutters are ground from a solid piece of HSS.
Plunge Tip
Cutting Tips
And that's about is apart from the brazing!
So how can different router manufacturers charge more for their cutters?
Simple answer is you get what you pay for!
TCT cutters are normally manufactured from mild steel. Steel bar is turned then the gully and tip seat is milled ready for the TCT blank to be brazed into place. Now here is when is where it starts to get interesting (well almost interesting) there are countless grades of carbide out there and that's one reason for the different prices from the
cheapest to the premier industrial cutters.
Even the high quality manufacturers have different grades of carbides for the different types of tooling they produce. Whether it's an industrial grade or a cheaper DIY or Trade range the costing factor is the quality of tip.
Tips are then brazed into place some of the high end routers are brazed automatically with precision by robots and even one British company still does this by hand!!The good old British I've been doing this way for year's we don't need to invest attitude!
Right I ramble back to the blog, once the tips have been brazed on to the body the next stage is the grinding. Tips are ground on CNC and by hand by some to precise angles and clearances to give the optimum life and performance from the tool. Once again the experience time and money spend by some of the industrial toolingmanufactures mean that the tool is worth the extra cost.
So you have now chosen your router cutter and whether it is a DIY economy cutter or a high end industrial bit you need to keep its edge to prevent burning, added strain on both the machine and cutter and this ultimately can lead to tooling failure, now all don't like that! The answer is very simple - sharpen it. So how do we do that? We sharpen TCT cutters with diamond sharpening stones along the face of the cutter only. Many people make the most common mistake (well second the first is doing nothing) and that is they sharpen the back of the tip. As I mentioned earlier companies have spent time and money working out what is the optimum angle the cutter need and we go and muck it up!
The best way to achieve the best performance and life is to have is professionally sharpened by a
Saw Doctor or send it back to the manufacturer for servicing.
But if you fancy a go and you have the correct machinery follow these guide lines.
Grind only the face of the cutter unless the tip is chipped and it can't be avoided
Flair-cup diamond wheels ought to be used for sharpening the face of the cutter, and a dish diamond wheel when sharpening the outside edge.
Overheating will cause cracking on the tip and the brazed joint is likely to fail - using an incorrect grinding wheel can cause overheating.
After re-sharpening the cutter a few times the steel body of the cutter may need relieving to bring the clearance back to the same amount as when the cutter was new.
Check extraction meets COSHH Regulation Tungsten Carbide dust can cause fatal respiratory diseases.
And finally if you get stuck or mess it up seek professional advice from a
Saw Doctor or Manufacturer.
Routers and Keeping the Edge
By: Steve Johnson
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