Replies

1. 
   MBerger | Sep 27, 2006 09:57pm | #1

   Hi Thunderbird,

   Welcome to the exciting world of routers. These are extremely versatile tools that will allow you to do a great deal of work with jigs and fixtures that would otherwise require more tools.

   Cutting a Dado
   If you are making a through dado, which means your cutting all the way across the workpiece (not stopping or starting short of the edge), a standard straight-fluted bit should work okay. One problem is that the flutes aren't designed to efficiently eject the chips as the bit cuts, which is probably causing it to bogg down. You might also be trying to remove too much material in a single pass. Try making your cut in two passes, lowering the bit incrementally each time. A plunge router comes in handy for this because you can set the bit height once and plunge your way to the final depth.

   If you're making a stopped dado, which means your cutting only partially across the workpiece, this requires that you plunge down into a workpiece to cut the dado. In this case, a spiral upcut bit is the way to go. For one, spiral upcut bits cut with the bottom of the bit in addition to the sides of the bit (unlike a straight-flute bit which only cuts on the sides). Also, they're much more efficient at ejecting chips due to the design of the flutes.

   To answer your question, I'd keep the spiral upcut bit because chances are you are going to need it, if not for this application than sometime in the future.

   Check out this recent article we published on 10 essential router bits. It might be of more help.

   Matt Berger
   Fine Woodworking

   
   

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   Edited 9/27/2006 3:00 pm ET by MBerger