WWA Info Exchange

I'm starting to build a plywood stand to hold my planer. My table saw is not up to spinning a dado so I use a router. I normally hand route out in the yard and let the dust settle in the mulch. My wife doesn't want dust from glues and stuff going into her organic garden so it was time to get a router with dust collection. Here it is:



A Dewalt 618. It's only the second router that I've used and it's an improvement over my Hitachi. A lot lower center of gravity on the plunge base. The dust collection helps but it's nowhere near 100%. I've got it hooked to a 650 CFM Jet Collector with mosltly 4" hose. The opening in the router is 3/4" or so. You can only expect so much. If you keep the feed rate low and the depths light it works pretty well but you'll still be cleaning up.

I am routing 1/2" dados in 3/4 ply using a new Whiteside plywood bit. I'm getting a lot of burning and I'm not sure why. I'm taking 1/8 or so and using a slow feed rate to let the DC do all it can. Any insight on what I"m doing wrong?

New Bit? Carbide Bit?

Also you could be going too slow and that is causing the bit to stay in one place too long and burning.

Take a piece of scrap from the ply you are using and try different feed rates.

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C J K
in beautiful -
Oxford GA, USA

I agree with Chuck. Sounds like you're going slow to help with dust collection, but this is causing more friction and scorching. You might think about rigging a split collection hose so that one line pulls dust through the factory provided port, and another just behind the bit.

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Frank
WWACOAUX#1
"I love the smell of Sawdust in the morning, it smells like, victory."
WWA'ers I've met: Popeye, Ed Avery, Stephen Wolf, Rockfish, Rodedon

It is a brand new carbide bit from Whiteside. Ice is right that I"m going slow. I'll give it a higher feed rate and see what happens.

Make sure you didn't plug it in backwards or it could be spining in the wrong direction.

_________________
Jeff

If man made it, I can fix it.
If God made it we can pray for it.

Lessons I have learned:
NEVER MAKE ANYTHING OUT OF TEAK
Always remove the zero clearance insert before you tilt the blade DAMHIKT

OR if you cannot move any faster then you are now; plug it into 220Volts.

Right Jeff?

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Mango
The land some where in the middle
20 47 00N -156 26 00W

Nice gloat!

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My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter!

I've found that these small ports on things like routers and sanders work better when hooked up to a shop vac. Higher velocity air flow than you can get with a DC, which is designed to move a high volume of air, but at much lower velocity. The small port simply chokes off the DC.

_________________
I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

The feed rate should be as fast as you safely can up to the point of hearing the motor slow down, if it does you need to back off a bit.

Hey Pk, I've had the same problem before and solved it by speeding up the pass. I don't mean warp speed but a steady, even speed that the 618 can do without straining. Also ... I used my shop vac (2" hose) and it gets 90%. If you can put down a tarp to catch the other 10%.....your marriage might just stay in tact. I also have the DW 618 .... 8 years old and still making me smile!
good luck,
Don

Here's an update. I cleaned off the router bit this morning for about the 10th time, hooked up the shop vac and went to work with 1/8" passes and as much speed as I could get. It was hard to get the feed rate up as there was a lot of resistance and a lot of smoke. Bit kept getting black at the tips, etc. Just for the heck of it I switched to a Rockler 1/2" bit I have and it was like using a hot knife in butter. It was easy to make fast passes whereas I felt I could not push the Whiteside bit any harder due to resistance.

So, the question is - was the new Whiteside bit bad or did I ruin it using too slow a feed rate? I've routed a total of about 6' of 1/2" deep dadoes with the Whiteside bit.

Can't say I saw much difference between the shop vac and the DC. As always, thanks for putting up with the newbie.

Sounds to me like that whiteside is either bad, or not the right bit for the job you're doing. I own a couple of Whiteside bits, but have yet to use them, so I can't really speak to thier quality. It might be worth a call to the company though.

_________________
Frank
WWACOAUX#1
"I love the smell of Sawdust in the morning, it smells like, victory."
WWA'ers I've met: Popeye, Ed Avery, Stephen Wolf, Rockfish, Rodedon

The Whiteside bit is sold and labeled as a plywood bit so I'm assuming it's suitable for what I'm doing. I bought it from Woodcraft so I may go back to them first.

I can't afford Whitside bits, but on the cheap MLCS types I use, I find that the "mortising" bit with its greater chip-clearing gap is best with plywood dados. The chief culprit in burning is likely the glue rather than the wood, and is not really affected by feed rate. Unless the bit has a high clearance for chips, it'll heat.

The adapters they sell for Dust Collectors, which work on volume, generally have an adjustable venturi where the small hose starts so as to trade off volume for velocity. Works nicely with my Bosch sanders, but there must be something beyond my hearing frequency that drives the dog nuts at some settings.

Good point about the glue George. I hadn't even thought about that.

_________________
Frank
WWACOAUX#1
"I love the smell of Sawdust in the morning, it smells like, victory."
WWA'ers I've met: Popeye, Ed Avery, Stephen Wolf, Rockfish, Rodedon

There is a slight possibility that some one bought the bit, used the heck out of it and took it back for a refund.

Since he said it wasn't used the store put it back on the shelf.

Happends all the time at HD and WallMart.

_________________
Jeff

If man made it, I can fix it.
If God made it we can pray for it.

Lessons I have learned:
NEVER MAKE ANYTHING OUT OF TEAK
Always remove the zero clearance insert before you tilt the blade DAMHIKT