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I have searched for posting on T&G flooring cutters and found the interesting thread about Shawn twing flooring plans but not much info on cutters. So here are the questions to the collective as I embark on my first attempt to make some flooring.
I have a Felder saw/shaper coming in May but need to make some flooring out of air-dried Ash now, so I have to resort to my 1 1/2 HP porter cable router in the router table. The wood will be planned to 3/4″ final thickness using a 18″ planer and edge jointed on a 8″ jointer. Ripped to width on table saw and then I plan to send a bunch of these blanks together, vertically, thru the planer for final cleanup of table saw ripped edge. Any comments for saving time or a better method would be very much appreciated.
As far as bits are concerned I noticed that there are bits for glue-ups and then some for T&G panelling and some state flooring as the main use. I figure I need to stay away from glue-up kind because I would think that a little relief is needed for expansion. However, it is not clear that the other bits would provide that relief anyway. Therefore, I am thinking that if I purchase one with ball-bearing I can change the bearing for a slightly deeper groove to allow for the relief.
Then there are square bits and ones which provide a v-groove. Can the flooring from the v-groove bits be used reversably, i.e., you can get a flush joint or a v-groove depending upon which side is put up ?
There are square tongues and wedge shaped tongues any difference here?
Finally, there are 3 types of bits:
1- Single bit with 2 cutters, with or w/o spacers and bearings
some cutters are 2 wing and others are 3 wing cutters
2- Two bits with fixed cutters no bearings
3- Two bits with fixed cutters and bearings
Thanks.
Replies
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IAM, how much flooring do you need to produce? When is your commission due? You said you have a Felder saw/shaper on the way but it sounds like you can't wait until it arrives for this project.
I manufactured 1500 linear feet of tongue and groove paneling about a year ago in a manner similar to the steps you outlined in your question. The only major differences were that I did not do anything to the edges of the boards that I had ripped to width (the T&G cutters should touch those surfaces to clean them up) and I used a shaper instead of a router as you're indicating. I purchased the shaper specifically for this particular job and no more than began making the paneling than realized that a router would not withstand the punishment required to finish the job.
I realize that you are restricted to using a router for this job. This being the case, I can only make recommendations based on speculation, I'll support my recommendations where possible.
First the choice of bits, I'd recommend a matched set of cutters (male and female). They should be available in one-piece and multiple-piece configurations. The multiple piece configurations are advantageous in that they can be shimmed to produce a proper fit after the cutters have been sharpened. One piece configurations tend to produce a looser fit after they have been sharpened, careless or excessively aggressive sharpening exagerates this effect. As for bearing guided vs. non bearing guided, I'd recommend purchasing the non-bearing guided variety. This eliminates the requirement of producing a perfect edge prior to shaping the T&G contour on your paneling/flooring. The edges will never be seen anyway since they will all be butted against each other in their final configuration.
Square vs wedge shaped tongues. The only difference I see is the fit between the tongue and groove. Tapered tongues tend to wedge into it's recepticale groove making it easier to get the pieces started together. I think this is a matter of personal preference. The cutters I used were square, meaning that the top and bottom sides of the tongue (or groove, for that matter, were parallel). They worked fine but I found that breaking the edges of the tongue with a hand plane made asembly much easier.
Vee-groove vs. flush appearance. I think this is a personal preference with regards to appearance of the finished floor. I used my paneling for a ceiling and went with a V-groove set of cutters. However, for flooring, I prefer a flush interface from board to board, producing a flat floor. Others may disagree, and there are advantages to V-groove flooring, but flush is my preference.
Finally, getting back to my first question, "how much flooring do you need to produce?". There are 2 reasons why I asked this question. First, is my sympathy for your router. I own a PC 690 router too and I'm convinced that it would not have survived the punishment of producing 1500 lineal feet of tongue and groove oak paneling. Secondly is in determining how many sets of bits I recommend to purchase for this project. I produced all 1500 feet of millwork using a shaper without sharpening the cutters. I don't believe this would be possible on a router. The reason is the difference in rotational speed. The router spins several times as fast as the shaper and also produces much less horsepower. This translates into many more cuts per inch of finished millwork for the router as compared to the shaper. More cuts per inch translates into more sharpenings per foot of finished product. Purchasing two sets of cutters allows you to continue production while the other set is out for sharpening. Like I said, this depends on how much flooring you need to produce. I'd bet on sending the cutters out for sharpening between 500 and 1000 feet. This figure will also vary depending on the prfile of the cutter (tongue or groove, remember that the tongue cutter removes twice as much material as the groove cutter. With the router this plays a significant role because you'll have to reduce feed rates in order for the machine to keep up, in turn increasing the number of cuts per inch of finished product and the wear on the cutter.) One thing to keep in mind when sharpening tooling is to send the whole set out at once (Sorry if I'm preaching here. Matched cutters need to be sharpened as a set in order to keep them mated to each other.)
One important thing to keep in mind regardless of what you use to shape your edges. Make sure all your stock is planed to the same thickness. The best way to do this is to run all your stock through the planer on the final pass without changing the setting. If this is not possible use a micrometer or caliper to measure the thickness of a scrap piece prior to running a "batch". I know this may sound picky but it will pay off in the end, especially if you opt for a "flush" jointed floor as opposed to a V-groove texture.
Sorry to be so long winded, hope my response covers your questions without coming across as demeaning.
-Kurt
*Kurt,Thanks for the excellent detailed response and yes my friend would like this sometime in April as opposed to a month or so later.I need to make 800 lin. ft. total including waste. However, it is going in two areas one requiring 500 lin ft. and the other 300 lin. ft. After reading your response I will make the 500 lin. ft. first and sharpen the bits for the rest if needed.I got a response from Grizzly that their match set (wedge type T&G) will provide a relief in the joint, i.e. slightly deeper groove. After reading your response I have decided to go with this kind due to ease of assembly (starting the tongue in the groove) and keeping the set matched after sharpening. Excellent advice I would have only learned from experience.I do plan to plane all material at one time but since I am not buying the bits with bearings I no longer plan to send the blanks through the planer to joint the table saw ripped edge.Thanks again for the response. After I get done I will post my experience.Imran.
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