Custom skirting

Berncarpenter · 20 Nov 2013

Been asked to run out some skirting & arc to match this type of oak door.

The clients came up with the design and wanted it made of popular and spray painted cream.
Heres the popular stacked up on the crosscut ,all clean and tidy .

Didnt take me long to get into a mess.No dust or chip extraction set up yet.

Two router slots with a 8mm straight cutter and 45 chamfer on the top edge.

Cleaned up the top edge with the hand plane as its a bit tricky doing long lengths on the surface planer.

All was going fine until this happened ,the cutter shank snapped.

You can see that there is no burning and it still seemed sharp.

and the shank snapped inside the collet,very strange?

Lucky i had a spare and managed to finish of the routing ok.Maybe i was expecting too much from a little cutter?
Should have set the spindle up i suppose. :roll:

All i have to do now is spray it up Cheers Bern.

RossJarvis · 21 Nov 2013

I've seen lots of tools go like that. The four main causes are; cheap or faulty tools, which break fairly quickly. Cutters which are not seated far enough into the collet and "fatigue fracture" early, tools which are forced into the material too quickly and "fatigue fracture" early or tools which have been used for a long time which "fatigue fracture".

The main cause is "sideways" force on the tool, which all router bits get, related to the type of tool material or surface finish of the tool.

It's most likely to happen if you force the cutter too quickly through the wood, particularly if it's resistant wood, especially if the cutter isn't far enough into the collet.

Berncarpenter · 21 Nov 2013

Thanks for the reply Ross This is the first time i have had a cutter snap on me in thirty odd years .ive had cutters vibrate loose and come out of the collet before so now i make sure that its seated into the collet a good two thirds in. usually have a good feeling for router work ,not stressing the cutter too much by forcing into the work and keeping them in good nick nice and sharp.If it was burnt or struggling to cut i would understand and popular is soft with no knots . This cutter came free with the Bosch router so could be a cheapie made for Bosch ?

Cheers Bern.

RossJarvis · 21 Nov 2013

Berncarpenter":2xhvikz1 said:
Thanks for the reply Ross This is the first time i have had a cutter snap on me in thirty odd years .ive had cutters vibrate loose and come out of the collet before so now i make sure that its seated into the collet a good two thirds in. usually have a good feeling for router work ,not stressing the cutter too much by forcing into the work and keeping them in good nick nice and sharp.If it was burnt or struggling to cut i would understand and popular is soft with no knots . This cutter came free with the Bosch router so could be a cheapie made for Bosch ?

Cheers Bern.

Yep, sounds to me like a cheapie cutter. I was taught by a metallurgist years ago, who could look at the broken surface and tell exactly why and how it broke. I can look at it and tell you if it's broken or not, usually! I'm more familiar with tools breaking when cutting into metal or concrete, particularly if they're long. As you say it's not so common for wood cutters (apart from industrial applications).

One of the reasons most cutters have a polished shank, is that this stops fatigue fractures starting. If there are scratches or pits in the shank, this increases the chance of them breaking by quite a lot.

n0legs · 21 Nov 2013

Where did you get the popular from Bern ?
been looking in South Wales for some for a little while.

Berncarpenter · 21 Nov 2013

n0legs":cgaewyre said:
Where did you get the popular from Bern ?
been looking in South Wales for some for a little while.

Nottage Timber on Pyle ind est ,Tel 01656 745959 .They didnt have much in stock and ordered some in for me it only took a couple of days .The only thing i ordered 6''x1'' @ 4.2m and got 8'' 9'' @ 4.8m about 30% more waste and cost. To be fair they did offer to send it back but I was already running behind with this job so i took the hit . HTH Cheers Bern.