Every specialist who manipulates wooden material with a manual cutter should be aware of the various nozzles and the nuances of their use in practice. With the proper level of skills, milling does not have any special limitations in terms of the possibilities for processing workpieces. Theoretical knowledge will help in the formation of edges, grooves and grooves with certain parameters. Wood cutters, on the other hand, can vary in design, blade type, size or shape.
What work is done by the tool
Basically, the master is tasked with processing lumber or other flat surfaces. The device allows you to create recesses, grooves and recesses in the tree. The design features of the fixtures suggest the exclusive use of various milling cutters in certain jobs. The woodworking machine makes it possible to engage in the installation of furniture fittings such as hinges and any decorative elements of a complex three-dimensional shape. There is a specialnozzle for splicing wood, the master uses it when you need to combine several blanks through the grooves.
Millers use these or those options in strictly defined scenarios. When working with any nozzle, the master requires elementary skills in handling wood and using electric tools. It is also important to observe safety precautions, the rules of which are considered common regardless of the nozzle used.
Standard shank diameters
The method of fastening is the first point that will have to be considered before starting work. The shank diameter can be measured in millimeters or inches. This is influenced by the collet-bushings that come with the router. The shank is clamped in them. For millimetric measurements, the standard version of the cutter is 8 mm. For a wood router, dimensions of 6 and 12 mm are also allowed. There are only two inch sizes in the standard - a quarter and a half inch.
Some may have already noted that some units can be converted to others using the SI system. Thus, from a quarter and a half inch, you get 6.35 and 12.7 mm, respectively. However, these dimensions are not at all compatible with the 6 and 12 mm standards. Such discrepancies will cause damage to the tool, because the shaft of the milling machine rotates at a fairly high speed, sometimes approaching 25 thousand revolutions per minute.
End nozzles
The uniqueness of this variety lies in the fact that the work is done not only due to the axial load, but also due tousing side edges. The cutting element is thus able to move within the support area when using this type of wood cutter. So the master makes very accurate selections in the material. In this case, the number of edges primarily affects the cleanliness of processing. The design of such nozzles is usually monolithic, but drills are sometimes also used crown.
Among the subspecies of end nozzles, one can distinguish spiral, conical, spherical, end, profile and burrs. Some of the listed options have a rather narrow specialization. For example, end caps are used in the formation of conventional grooves or tongue-and-groove. The profile variety is suitable for processing ends, decorating wood ornaments and other complex work. Rotary cutters, in turn, are used to make holes of a given shape during intermediate processing of the material.
Edge trims
This group is quite extensive and is used by masters in many situations. In particular, with this set of wood cutters for hand tools, wooden edges are created. Experts advise to purchase a ready-made set of such nozzles at once, rather than looking for them separately. The widespread use among home craftsmen is explained by the fact that these devices form the basis of almost any store kit that comes with the tool.
Edge nozzles are listed below:
- figure for creating panels;
- profile, used when processing complex-shaped edges;
- folded, allowing you to remove a quarter in the edge parts;
- taper for chamfering;
- fillet wood used in the manufacture of grooves;
- moulding or shaped for rounding edges;
- disc slots.
Features of working with edge nozzles
These types of cutters usually come with bearings. The latter are needed to manually limit the tool travel, which will allow you not to go too deep into the surface of the material being processed. However, the important point is that the cutting edge itself will not be located at the same level as the limiter bearing. The support platform, in turn, allows you to adjust the depth of immersion of the cutter in the tree.
In some cases, the nozzle begins to create excessively large cuts. Then the master is forced to carry out the procedure sequentially, step by step. At each stage, the wood cutter must go deeper into the material until the desired configuration is obtained. Separately, it is worth mentioning the figurative nozzle. It has a very impressive weight and diameter.
groove bits
By the name it is easy to guess the purpose of this type of cutters. They serve to create grooves in various wooden products. The main varieties of such nozzles are presented in the list below:
- conical for threading flatsurface;
- T-shaped, which create a pattern of the corresponding shape;
- grooving straight cutters for wood, necessary for working with cylindrical parts;
- fillet for creating grooves in the form of a semicircle;
- shaped nozzles;
- combined cutters for connecting large wooden boards to each other;
- so-called dovetails.
Work efficiency can be increased many times over if you purchase a kit with a different configuration of cutters in all its diversity. This will help, for example, in situations where it is necessary to make grooves with different angles of inclination.
Types of cutters for CNC machines
There are five main types of nozzles for CNC tools:
- End for work with material on all axes, having two cutting edges. Usually performed in the form of diamond cutters on wood. The CNC-machines on which they are used are characterized by increased precision in the processing of parts.
- Corner bits are essential when working on edges. They also have a pair of cutting edges located at different angles relative to each other.
- Disc cutters form grooves and various recesses in the material. There are a lot of tasks performed by such a nozzle, and their number depends on the number and location of the cutting edges.
- End nozzles are used to work with cylindrical shapes. Most often, craftsmen cut sheet materials using this variety.
- Rolling cutters are very specific and allow you to make complex shapes according totree. They are usually used already during the finishing of the material, making all elements as accurate, verified and accurate as possible.
Mastering the manual milling machine
The first hours of work with the tool are recommended to be carried out at low and medium speeds. However, for the future, you also need to remember the fact that higher speeds mean a better final quality of work, regardless of the wood shell mills used. In any project, there are the most critical areas that need to be processed as carefully as possible, because they will always remain in sight of the observers. It is on such structural elements that increased speeds should be used, but this should be done only after the master’s skills have been sufficiently developed.
The tool is set using the handle and scale for adjusting the depth of milling. The step of change is a tenth of a millimeter. Also, this setting should be combined with a certain speed of rotation of the cutter. Other controls include on/off and lock buttons. Compliance with safety precautions during work implies a clear memorization of the location of all parts that regulate the tool. For convenience, a special parallel stop is provided on the body, which is fixed either rigidly or with the possibility of shifting within the working area.
Optimal cutter set
There are the most popular attachments that help in almost any situation. You can make your own set of cutters. Forwood router be sure to include the following items:
- Edge cutters. Without them, it will not be possible to properly cultivate the end surfaces of the material. It is also allowed to create spikes and grooves for connecting parts.
- Groove cutters. Various types of such nozzles will come in handy. Spiral suitable for cutting technical grooves. The fillet will serve as a tool for finishing a wooden surface, obtaining grooves of a certain depth and shape. Shaped groove cutters will help to carry out decorative work with the material. And the "dovetail" can be used to form grooves, hidden or openly connecting several parts into one.
Main rules for work
A well-executed task and a safe outcome entirely depend not only on the skills of the master, but also on his compliance with certain rules when working with a manual wood cutter:
- The material must first be rigidly installed in the machine and re-check the quality of such fastening. Without this procedure, normal operation should not be expected.
- The tool used must be sharp. Surface quality will certainly suffer with a dull cutter. In addition, the motor of the tool will begin to overheat, which may lead to premature failure of the device.
- Before the master decides to replace one cutter with another, he will without fail completely turn off and de-energize the device. Produced not onlypressing the power button, but also removing the plug from the socket.
- Deep wood layers need to be removed in multiple passes. Trying to do everything at once will put more stress on the cutter and tool motor. This will reduce the processing speed and the final quality of the finished product.
Template processing
The use of templates is especially necessary for those craftsmen who are still new to working with a hand cutter on wood. Edge processing is carried out either with one bearing at the end of the cutting part, or with one at its beginning. It is allowed to carry out the procedure without a template if the master has sufficiently refined skills in handling the tool.
As a sample, a previously processed board or some other object with a flat surface is suitable. It is worth noting that the length of the template must exceed the length of the workpiece at both ends. The thickness should also not be greater than the gap between the cutting part and the bearing.
The width of the part is less than the length of the cutting part
Beginners should pay special attention to the chosen instrument. It is better to take a wood cutter with an average length of the cutting part. If this parameter is too high, then it will become very difficult to work with the workpiece. First you need to firmly fix the template on a table or other surface. The cutter and roller are placed in such a way that they move easily along the surface of the sample. Preparatory work is underway to fix and distribute all the toolsrelative to each other.
Next, the cutter is placed in the working position so that it can move along the workpiece. Only now the power button is pressed and the unit starts its movement. The speed of movement of the tool for the most part will depend on the depth of the surface treatment. In this case, a different influence of the master on the instrument is allowed. It is more convenient for someone to push the router, and for someone it is more convenient to pull it.
The width of the part is greater than the length of the cutting part
Very common case. Craftsmen are often faced with the fact that the length of the cutter for wood is somewhat smaller than the width of the workpiece. You need to proceed as follows. After the first pass, the template must be removed and another pass made, only the already processed part will be used as a template. The bearing should be guided over the surface so that the cutting part is sufficient. Otherwise, you will need to repeat all the described actions in the next pass.
