[Jon.N.CNC]

Hi there. Is anyone using carbide straight flutes for contouring birch ply? Its been suggested to me as an alternative to compression spirals for slower wear. I've not played with carbide straight flutes on birch, my concern would be tearout and chipping on underside of cut.

Any experience in this appreciated.

Cheers

Jon

[Jon.N.CNC]

Guess not.

[ger21]

I typed a reply yesterday, but must have forgotten to hit send.

I wouldn't expect any chipping, but you'll probably see some fuzzy cuts on crossgrain cuts. Not sure if they'll really last longer, though.

[Jon.N.CNC]

I typed a reply yesterday, but must have forgotten to hit send.

I wouldn't expect any chipping, but you'll probably see some fuzzy cuts on crossgrain cuts. Not sure if they'll really last longer, though.

Thanks Ger.

Okay, I was discussing how economical it was using the c.s bits, I'm wondering if what they ment was being that the straight flutes are cheaper they are more economical not that they last longer.

Depending on how fuzzy, fuzzy edges occur on cross grain cuts even with a cs so might be worth a go.

Thanks for advice.

[ger21]

What bits are you using now? You might want to try coated bits, or Vortex Extreme Performance series.

[Jon.N.CNC]

What bits are you using now? You might want to try coated bits, or Vortex Extreme Performance series.

I have heard you can now get coated spiral tooling. I use vortex and onsrud, onsrud seem to be slightly better though.

It's more the 1/4" tooling that suffers. Vortex don't do an 2 flute 1/4" cs in extreme version according to their catalogue. They also don't include the upcut length in the description in their catalogue either which kind of makes me reach for the onsrud catalogue.

Another one I have been experimenting with is itc tooling uk. I get cs spirals for around £30 which is half that of onsrud and vortex. Very sharp, excellent finish, dare I say better than both onsrud and vortex. just dull in about 2/3rds of the time. And evidence of wear also not really upto being sharpened. Which I never get around to anyway so could be more economical for me. Might get one of these coated and see how far into a pallet of sheets it gets.