Opinion on router bit

[whatknot]

Anyone had one of these or have an opinion on it

https://pillowbread.com/products/45-loc ... router-bit

Mod edit - Please ensure topic is posted on appropriate board, this was originally in Handtools. Thanks.

 

[D_W]

None from me other than that it's a joint that will need repair at some point.

GIL (grandmother in-law) had a chest that she was sold as an "heirloom" item by Lane years ago here, and she held it for a long time thinking we'd want it (we have nowhere to put it). I was surprised to see at its age that it had a lock miter joint on it, and two sides of the chest had completely let and the joint was part pulled apart and part broken from wood movement.

I suppose it does accomplish the goal of creating a flush joint, but I think you'd be better off just using a spline (a spline looks much more tasteful if exposed at the top, too).

Love the comments from the guy on the right "it needs to be accurate" (complete with pictures of cracked wood and huge blowouts at the end of the piece - presumably a test piece).

 

[D_W]

By the way, if that's coming from the states, it's probably just a $5 or $10 import bit. You'd be better off finding the same thing in country to avoid absurd shipping charges. When i was using power tools, I never found much difference between the various low cost import bits (never tried my luck with a door set, but...).

 

[fezman]

I bought one of the axcalibur ones a few days ago. I've only had one go with it, but it seems quite difficult to setup. Made a total fubar of the piece i was working on.

I will persevere with it for a few goes and see how it goes.

 

[custard]

Instead of £14 a decent quality lock mitre bit from a known and reputable supplier costs in the region of £40-60,

https://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/On ... r_143.html

https://routercutter.co.uk/45-lock-miter

As Fezman pointed out, even good ones are tricky to set up, be prepared to take 30 or 40 minutes running multiple test pieces before committing to the actual workpiece. IMO they're not really a tool for a hobbyist with a one-off project.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I think the thing to do with these types of cutter is to faff about on scrap until you get the depth setting right, then keep the piece of scrap to set the cutter against next time you use it.

 

[marcros]

I think the thing to do with these types of cutter is to faff about on scrap until you get the depth setting right, then keep the piece of scrap to set the cutter against next time you use it.

how sensitive are these bits to material thickness?

all very well keeping the scrap, but is the joint out if the workpiece is thicker than the scrap by half or quarter of a mm?

how much does mdf or birch ply vary in thickness?

 

[Brandlin]

I think the thing to do with these types of cutter is to faff about on scrap until you get the depth setting right, then keep the piece of scrap to set the cutter against next time you use it.

how sensitive are these bits to material thickness?

Very.

I find setting the cutter up to be the hardest, but once set the accuracy of the mitre and the ability to make simple boxes etc is for me great,

 

[fezman]

I think the thing to do with these types of cutter is to faff about on scrap until you get the depth setting right, then keep the piece of scrap to set the cutter against next time you use it.

how sensitive are these bits to material thickness?

all very well keeping the scrap, but is the joint out if the workpiece is thicker than the scrap by half or quarter of a mm?

how much does mdf or birch ply vary in thickness?

I think this is where the problem was for me. I used mdf scraps and had limited success - the mdf being the same thickness. I used some maple and it made a pigs ear of it. I also think i had the router speed too high for this size of cutter.

Will feedback some more when i have time to have go with it again.

 

[PAC1]

If you need such a cutter get it from Wealden. Also you need a router table with micro adjust in both height and width as in order to set it up you need to make very careful adjustment to suit the specific piece of timber. You could not use this cutter with a hand held router.

 

[deema]

I’m going from memory, and using a spindle moulder lock mitre block rather than a router bit, however the principle is the same I believe. They should be simple to set up taking no longer than any other cutter.

First set the height of the cutter to get the interlock roughly central in the joint. Preferably so that the eye can’t see it not being central. Adjust the infeed fence so that with the board when laying flat on the table the cutter takes off only enough to cut exactly from the top to bottom. The key is that the Edge to be mitred is square and true. The cutter must not cut away any of the top edge after the cut is made. I.e. the board will run through the cutter with an outfeed fence set parallel with the infeed without the cut getting deeper.

Run your first part for the joint through, face down on the table. Now run your second board through face against the fence. They should be a perfect joint.

If you don’t have a perfect square and true Edge before it’s to be machined it will become a tedious exercise of futility.

 

[Brandlin]

I’m going from memory, and using a spindle moulder lock mitre block rather than a router bit, however the principle is the same I believe. They should be simple to set up taking no longer than any other cutter.

First set the height of the cutter to get the interlock roughly central in the joint. Preferably so that the eye can’t see it not being central. Adjust the infeed fence so that with the board when laying flat on the table the cutter takes off only enough to cut exactly from the top to bottom. The key is that the Edge to be mitred is square and true. The cutter must not cut away any of the top edge after the cut is made. I.e. the board will run through the cutter with an outfeed fence set parallel with the infeed without the cut getting deeper.

Run your first part for the joint through, face down on the table. Now run your second board through face against the fence. They should be a perfect joint.

If you don’t have a perfect square and true Edge before it’s to be machined it will become a tedious exercise of futility.

For a lock mitre cutter, the centre of the 'flange' on the cutter must be level with the centre of the work when the work is flat on the router table AND when the workpiece is held against the fence. This means accurate setting of both the bit height and the fence position. Getting 'the interlock roughly central in the joint' is no where near good enough.

Only setting the position 'roughly' as deema states will lead to the mitre being out of position by twice the inaccuracy in the setting. For example, if the cutter is set 1mm lower than central, then on the piece cut with the face on the table, the locking groove will be 1mm closer to the INSIDE corner of the mitre. Then when you run this through with the face against the fence and the same bit setting the locking geometry will be 1mm closer to the OUTSIDE corner of the mitre. When you bring the two pieces together you end with a 2mm step/error at the corner. This is why this cutter is so hard to set because any inaccuracy is doubled on the final joint AND both the bit height and fence setting are critical, AND you are trying to align the centre of your work to the centre of a sloping cutting edge that isn't marked.

It is however correct that you need the settings accurate enough that you do not cut away the 'point' of the material either against the fence or the table, as this will cause the workpiece to skew horizontally or vertically and ruin the cut. Also its right that you do need an accurate square edge to the face of the work.

Here is peter parfitt explaining it all with some good graphics...

 

[porker]

I have one of these. Looks the same anyway. It cuts OK but I searched around a lot for decent setup advise. Best I found for the fence adjustment was to place some stock against the fence over the cutter, then another piece on top of that that rests on the table in front of the cutter. Move the cutting edge to be perpendicular to the fence and when it just touches the edge of the second piece the fence is on the correct position. Height I just did marking the centre of the stock and eye balling the centre of the cutter. Not sure how clear my description is.

The other issue is that when cutting, the stock resting on the outfeed fence is very thin so it can be good to fix a piece of straight stock to the top with double sided tape to save the edge.