# flattening a slab what router bit??



## johndough (21 Oct 2018)

ive read so much about it and every one has a different bit, there that pricey i wana get the right one 

i have a£600 slab of elm i dont wana hurt ..

ive looked at 
Freud 1/4" Radius Dish Carving Bit with 1/2" Shank (99-026) 

Surface Trim 3 Wing 

and a few others liek infinity but hey dotn seem to get the votes ..

at £100 a bt i wana know im geting a good one ...the right one 

ive seen peeps saying some bits like the dish bits dont require sanding there they good ! not that im bothered as i will be sanding


alsoMagnate-Surface-Planing-Bottom-Cleaning


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## Trevanion (21 Oct 2018)

Wealden are very good when it comes to router cutters, a league above Trend and They're cheaper. Although I've never used their surfacing bits it would be my first choice.

https://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Surfacing_6.html

I've always had Trend bits shatter/explode on me while I'm using them and they're far too expensive to constantly replace so I started using Wealden bits and I've not had one shatter nor explode yet. I've gotten the full life out of each bit before having to replace them. Can't recommend enough.


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## skelph (21 Oct 2018)

Would this work?
https://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/On ... g_250.html

Wealden router bits are good value for money

skelph


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## Robbo3 (22 Oct 2018)

I've just flattened a 620mm burr using a standard 1/2" TCT bit.
Edit: 3/4" not 1/2"


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## sunnybob (22 Oct 2018)

I use a bowl bit about 1 1/4" across. But it doesnt really matter what you use, you will still have to sand afterwards.
The quality of the router is more important. I had a Powerplus router that gave quite deep skidmarks on every cut. Decided it was bearing play and switched to a Bosch router. Although that is at least 20 years old and second hand, it leaves a better finish than the brand new powerpkus did.


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## johndough (23 Oct 2018)

i rang them and they advised me to get . wealdentool. com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Surface_Trepanning_928.html

said i can replace blades for £15 and wil do alot better job than the 3win i was going to get that he said wil be blunt half way through 
so fair play 
then gave me advice on my slab was amazing support, 

so i think im gona do that..
as for the router im going to rent the bosh in jewsons its a £360 router 24hrs for £30


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## Trevanion (23 Oct 2018)

johndough":2eklfzcu said:


> as for the router im going to rent the bosh in jewsons its a £360 router 24hrs for £30



If you're not in an urgent rush it might actually be more cost effective to buy a second-hand router off eBay for around the £30 mark or a little more and keep it rather than rent one. You could probably sell it again on eBay if you've got no intention of keeping it and make most of your money back on it.

I would probably go for one of these routers as people overlook the Ryobi RE-600 routers mostly because the Ryobi name is attached and they assume it's a hobby grade machine so they don't fetch silly money like Makita or Dewalt. I can tell you from experience these are as robust and heavy duty as they come and the motor is 3HP which is great for heavy operations like surfacing or panel raising in the router table. If you think you might use a router again in the future it would definitely be a worthwhile purchase even if it sits around for months. Plus whatever you rent from Jewsons is gonna be pretty hanging and ancient more than likely.


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## Sawdust=manglitter (24 Oct 2018)

I've used the Wealden surface trim bit and it did an absolutely cracking job!!

https://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Surface-Trim.html


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## sunnybob (24 Oct 2018)

Now thats more in my price range. That trepanning bit at well over a £100 is out of my pocket money.


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## Eric The Viking (24 Oct 2018)

30 quid / day????

When I was in an industry that hired lots of stuff, the going rate, for VERY expensive kit, (and the cheapest) was around 1% of the capital cost per day. Not per hour! Even then, you still easily recoup the outlay on popular items within a year. I have often contemplated buying shares in Jewsons - they know their direct customers aren't price sensitive, as they in turn pass on costs to the ultimate client. 

Bear in mind too, that the hire counter probably knows next-to-nothing about router care & feeding (and probably _doesn't_ care), neither do previous hirers. If you can, take a knowledgeable mate with you when you hire, to check the machine out before you accept it. In particular look for collet wear and any float in the shaft. 90% of the time they've probably been used for kitchen worktops, and in the hands of a novice, that means bearing and collet wear (as they try to take too-deep cuts with gummy or dull cutters).

Yours is one of those tasks where a good-quality router in good nick will make shedloads of difference, as will the quality of the trammel arrangement you contrive -- straightness, parallelism and sag of the crosspiece(s). The better you can do the powered part, the less stock you will waste and the less sanding later to finish. 

Bear in mind also that fitting your router to the trammel box, or adapting the trammel box to the router will also come out of your hire cost. 

And it would be a good idea to practice on some cheap stock too. I've got Wealden's six-wing cutter, and have used it a lot for small jobs where it's worked well. So it was a surprise how pernickety it was when I had to do a big slab of oak, which was rather precious to its owner. That said, the method saved the piece, as we could micro-adjust it to eliminate wind with minimum waste - putting it through a planer without a sled would almost certainly have been a disaster. 

There are a number of good YouTube tutorials on doing this, too. 

Can you make thin wedges? Do you have a good method planned for holding the workpiece down? Your first task will almost certainly be getting one side out of wind, so do you have a flat enough and big enough surface to work on?

Plan carefully and if you _must_ hire, get everything as ready as possible beforehand (e.g. find the mounting hole positions on the router plate via t'internet, _before_ hiring). 

Final thought though: is there any workshop near you who has a wide enough spiral block planer/thicknesser? The finish is remarkable usually, and it might be worth paying the hire fee to them instead!

E.

PS: That six-wing cutter is 38.90 (plus postage). Where did you get 100 quid from - are those gold-plated?


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## sunnybob (24 Oct 2018)

Erek.
The original poster mentioned treppaning bits from wealdons, they have replacable blades, but are over a 100. I often flatten timber using a router, so i was interested (untill I saw the price). The 38 quid option has me very interested. It just might find it way onto my xmas wish list.


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## Phil Pascoe (24 Oct 2018)

When I last hired stuff it usually worked out that you could have bought it if you hired it for four or five weekends. Unless it was for a very specialised one off job I bit the bullet and bought.


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## LancsRick (24 Oct 2018)

I can also vouch for the 6 Wing. You will likely have minor machining marks (I suspect due to flex in my sled setup), but nothing that one or two strokes with a plane won't remove.


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## Phil Pascoe (24 Oct 2018)

Good as Wealden are, I would think the one with the replaceable cutters would only be justified if you were intending to do the same type of work in the future.


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## Sideways (24 Oct 2018)

I have a 1/4 inch shank tri wing cutter and it's great. Very useful. For something big like your job, I strongly recommend a 3+ wing cutter from a decent maker. 1/2" shank would obviously be better for a big surface.

Oh - and how much would a CNC routing business charge to flatten it ? Perfect machine for the job - the operation is basically the same as flattening a new spoil board, just a few more passes.


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## Neil S (24 Oct 2018)

I believe the replaceable cutters are usually made of a harder carbide as they don't need to be brazed onto the router bit. So as well being replaceable they give a better cut and longer lifetime.

-Neil


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## ColeyS1 (24 Oct 2018)

Robbo3":27vd0sv6 said:


> I've just flattened a 620mm burr using a standard 1/2" TCT bit.


I flattened a large tree slice using a sharpened 25mm flute bit. Do the 6 wing jobbies just make the job quicker (larger diameter) or do they leave a better finish as well? With the 25mm flute bit I wasn't really restricted for depth of cut- it'd quite happily remove 15mm high spots. Are the 6 wing cutters limited for depth ? 
I've got some large slabs that would need router sledding.It'd be interesting to hear the pro's over a normal straight flute bit.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk


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## SteveF (24 Oct 2018)

I have a 6 wing cutter from wealden
I would not take more than 1mm depth of cut at a time
and hold on tight

Steve


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## ColeyS1 (24 Oct 2018)

SteveF":377ubc0p said:


> I have a 6 wing cutter from wealden
> I would not take more than 1mm depth of cut at a time
> and hold on tight
> 
> Steve


Wowsers, so what's the appeal with them then ? It can't be speed if you're limited to 1-2mm per pass.....I'm genuinely intrigued now.

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## SteveF (24 Oct 2018)

only appeal is the clean cut
not any use in a router table either
I tried to take a 2mm pass to run a "rebate" in a walnut counter top
what a mess after I managed to re-seat my table insert
I would imagine in a full on cnc machine it would be perfect for spoiler board flattening
Steve


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## Robbo3 (25 Oct 2018)

ColeyS1":37xfsfgm said:


> I flattened a large tree slice using a sharpened 25mm flute bit. Do the 6 wing jobbies just make the job quicker (larger diameter) or do they leave a better finish as well? With the 25mm flute bit I wasn't really restricted for depth of cut- it'd quite happily remove 15mm high spots. Are the 6 wing cutters limited for depth ?
> I've got some large slabs that would need router sledding.It'd be interesting to hear the pro's over a normal straight flute bit.


Mine was a one off, though there may be one or two more in the offing, & was jigged with whatever I had available. The side supports were taken from pallets & the sled was just a length of melamine faced chipboard.
I would think that wide bits add more complications especially with two non parallel irregular surfaces.


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## memzey (25 Oct 2018)

A slightly sweatier option I know but is there a reason why you don’t want to do this with bench planes? All in all once you factor in the time it takes to make the jig etc. it’s probably much quicker and far less likely to ruin your slab.


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## Eric The Viking (25 Oct 2018)

ColeyS1":1m7ind4x said:


> Wowsers, so what's the appeal with them then ? It can't be speed if you're limited to 1-2mm per pass.....I'm genuinely intrigued now.



The 6-wing one, certainly, probably won't do what you want. I got mine because it would let me get to a pretty good surface taking off an absolute minimum of material. It's not really the weapon of choice if you've got 1/2" depth to deal with.

#1: Clean cut as mentioned. I think both the 6-wing and 3-wing cutters have rounded corners, so they don't rip up the grain. 

#2: Bigger diameter - the cutting edge is moving faster (so the router itself doesn't need to scream) - in theory although the cut itself is shallow, you can work it over the surface more quickly, and because it does less damage, get more from your slab. I'm sure it's faster. The depth may be less, but each "wipe" across the board can be about 30mm wide. And I have taken 2-3mm at that depth, although that is probably the max for my T11 in a sled (need to improve my sled though as it's a glorified trammel arrangement at the moment). The issues seem to be getting the router exactly perpendicular to the plane of cut and making sure it doesn't bounce - because the cutter is wider, it "amplifies" any alignment issues. It's capable of an exceptionally clean finish, but only if it is exactly parallel to the plane of movement and rigidly held in the vertical axis.

As well as flattening big surfaces I use mine in the router table for things like micro-tuning tenon cheeks (oh, the shame of it!  ), and making similar small dimensional changes. For that, with a mitre fence, it's a cheeky* but neat solution - I can easily dial-in 0.1mm adjustment. 

Again though, it's not something you're likely to need to do very often!


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