With the advent of such devices as grooving cutters for wood, modern masters have a lot of opportunities to create real masterpieces. After reading this article, you will learn about the existing varieties of this tool and what it is used for.
How the tool works
Grooving cutter for a manual router is a steel rod having a cylindrical shape. A straight woodworking tool of this type consists of a shank that securely fixes the tool in the chuck clamp, and a working part, on the cylindrical surface of which there are several cutting edges.
During the woodworking process, groove cutters are untwisted under the influence of an electric motor up to a certain speed, and then brought into direct contact with the workpiece. The material is sampled using cutting edges located at the bottom of the tool. The expansion and alignment of the groove is ensured by the presence of side working parts.
Purpose of the tool
Groove cutters are used to carry out a fairly wide range of operations related to wood processing. They are used to create tongue-and-groove and tenon joints, to select grooves in the door leaf when installing hinges, as well as for the production of building structures and individual furniture elements.
Of course, all this can be done with an ordinary hammer and chisel. But this will take an unreasonably large amount of time and effort. Whereas milling ensures maximum accuracy and high speed of execution of such operations.
Main varieties of groove cutters
Depending on what operations certain groove cutters can perform, they can be divided into several categories, including:
- shaped;
- structural;
- fillet;
- straight.
Special grades of high quality carbide tool steel are used for this tool. The most important technical parameters of groove cutters are the overall length, working height, shank and cutting diameter. When selecting a tool necessary for a certain type of woodworking work, it is necessary to take into account the parameters of the groove that needs to be made in the end part of the part or in the plate.
Disc grooving cutter
This kind of tool is used for processing all kinds of grooves and groovesproducts. To make a narrow groove, thin disc groove cutters are used. Corner grooves are obtained using a one- or two-angle tool. To prolong the life of angle cutters, their tops need to be slightly rounded. Disc cutters can be roughly divided into two categories:
- one-piece tools that can be three-sided with straight or multi-directional blades, backed and simply grooved;
- tools with insert blades.
Groove fillet cutter
Such devices that expand the basic capabilities of a power tool are used to obtain straight grooves with a figured bottom. To date, two versions of this tool are produced:
- milling cutters with rounded tips, allowing you to decorate the surface of the processed board with complex decorative notches;
- devices with V-shaped end cutting edges that allow you to make grooves of a certain depth.
Such milling cutters are used for decorative processing not only of the plate surface itself, but also of its edges. The cost of such a tool is an order of magnitude higher than the price of straight cutters.
Cutters
Such a tool is used in cases where it is necessary to apply a certain pattern to the surface. Using template cutters, door panels, furniture linings and other interior elements are made. This type of tool is actively used for deep sampling and straight chamfering under variouscorners, for simple and complex rounding of edges, for creating complex concave profiles and rounded edges.
Cutter Safety
In order to avoid injuries associated with the incorrect use of milling machines, it is necessary to follow the simplest safety rules. It is necessary to install and change the cutter in the chuck only after disconnecting the device from the mains. During operation, it is necessary to ensure that the shank is fully clamped in the chuck. Insufficiently secure hold can cause serious injury. The shank must be free of rust, tar, and oily contaminants that could cause it to slip out of the chuck clamp. The surface to be treated must be free from any foreign objects. While working with woodworking tools, do not forget about protective equipment such as gloves, a respirator and eye glasses. This will keep you away from fine wood dust.
