Figuring out the right router bit speed for a perfect finish November 16, 2011
Your woodworking toolkit is incomplete without a perfect Router Bit as this is one tool that helps you create some remarkable designs out of a simple piece of wood. This tool doesn’t weight much and can be used for a number of wood designing and styling jobs.
According to the woodworking experts, when working on moldings and cabinet doors, the router bit should be attached to the router table to achieve utmost precision with cutting and sharpening. When the router is attached to the table, you can cut with accuracy and can also adjust the speed easily. Adjusting the high speed of router can be tricky but if you know the right way to do it, you can adjust it to suit your needs.
Hardness of the wood being worked upon determines the speed of the router bit. When finishing soft wood, the speed would be kept lower as compared to what hard wood would require. Start with a mock trial on a scrap piece of wood before you actually start working on the final piece. This will help you identify and control the right speed and achieve the ideal finish.
Speed of the bits can be controlled using the big red knob on the top of the router. For finishing different types of materials, you would have to set different speeds. This characteristic of router bits makes it one of the most popular woodworking tools. The big red knob on the router generally has numbers or speed levels written on it to help the operator adjust the speed.
Etching can easily be done using router bits as they can move on the surface of the wood plans smoothly. The rpms of speed that you choose while performing this operation would depend upon the hardness of the wood being used. In case you are using the router bits at a faster speed on soft wood, it might start burning. To avoid any such incident, decrease the speed and try working on a sample piece beforehand. Using bits at a lower speed keeps their sharpness intact and prevents them from dulling too soon.
If the bit is not sharp, you will have to operate the router on a higher speed, thus affecting the finish of the end product. If the bits dull out, you can get them sharpened from a local market to continue working with them and chiseling out some of the finest designs. The local machine shops have tools through which you can restore the sharpness of your router bits. Do not ever sharpen the bits yourself unless you are an expert in doing so. Having your router bits sharpened by a professional will increase the overall life of your bits. This will also have a direct effect on their performance.
As you try your hands on different router bits and keep experimenting with them, you’ll get a fair idea of the perfect speed adjustments needed to work on different types of woods.
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