An up cut or up spiral bit cleans the shavings but a down cut or down spiral bit seems counterproductive. Reply. X. Replies. WayneL5 | Mar 26, pm | #1. You'd use a down spiral in any situation in which lifting up would tend to tear at the surface. Some examples include wood that splinters easily, veneer, and laminate. Usually such bits are used along an edge so chips wouldn't collect. charlesm | Mar 29, pm | #2. You use a down spiral when surface finish is important and chip clearance isn't an issue (such as for shallow cuts or when inverted in a table). The up. I know the dictionary difference between a spiral up cut vs spiral down cut bit, but am having trouble fully grasping what to use when. I am in the process of beefing up my router bit collection and would like to understand the practical uses of each. As a side note, I have a lot of routers and use them A LOT. I am a huge fan of the router, and it, with a few clever jigs/sleds, replaces a lot of tools in my shop.  So if I understand correctly, down cut bits are for cutting completely though the piece (cutting circles for example) and up cuts are for mortise/dado cuts and anything else that doesn't go through? That is helpful. Also I do cut a lot of mortises/dados with a horizontal jig I made, but I use a fluted straight bit. Would a spiral up cut give me a cleaner cut/flatter bottom? Quote. Link to post. Our production quality solid carbide spiral bits combine effective chip removal with a continuous shearing action cut not obtained from a standard straight bit. You’ll get smoother cutting action with better results. Up-cut Bits provide faster cutting while they pull chips up and out of the work or towards the router. They are excellent bits to use when cutting material in a router table since they tend to hold the work piece to the table itself. Ideal for mortise and tenons, grooving, slotting or routing deep blind holes. Down-cut Bits cut slower and push chips away from the router to elimina. Quote from: Roseland on August 15,PM. They were certainly an upgrade from the two flute straight cutters I had been ip. Find a Store. You are balancing edge crispness -v- chip removal i. Spiral Bits Leave a Clean Edge The three basic cutter configurations for spiral bits are up-cut, down-cut, and a combination of the two, known as a compression bit. Straight bits also have a huge advantage over up spiral bit vs down spiral bit data bits when it comes to template routing, because you can buy them with guide bearings. Quick View Item 03K

You likely want an upcut bit. It will pull the chips up towards the router, which gives you better control Spiral Down Cut Router Bit 2019 in both handheld and table routing situations. Birdhunter Posts: Woodworker, Sportsman, Retired. I agree with the above unless I am routing plywood. The upcut Up Down Spiral Router Bits 03 bits can lift the top layer up Roseland Posts: I only ever use upcut or straight. Upcut clear the dust out of a cut quicker, so I prefer them when routing solid wood.

But like the other post says, they can delaminate ply, so then I use straight cutters or go very gently. Dick Mahany Posts: This video does a nice job of explaining the benefits of different spiral bits.

RKA Posts: It depends on what you're doing. The case for downcuts is to preserve the integrity of the face when dealing with material prone to tear out or chip out. Also, when using a bearing guided bit and template on the router table I'll use a downcut with the bearing Up Spiral Bit Vs Down Spiral Bit Yoga on the bottom of the bit which is probably the most frequent application I find for these bits.

The template serves as a support to eliminate tearout on that side of the work piece. ElectricFeet Posts: So while for freehand an upcut will send dust upwards towards your dust collection, it will send the dust under the table when mounted on a table. You might also want to look at compression bits, which have both upward and downward spirals. You have to be careful about getting the heights right so that both spirals can engage on the edges.

The ideal situation is to have both types of spiral bits in the drawer, in the size or Spiral Down Cut Router Bit Youtube sizes you most often use. The quest for more tools certainly does not end with spiral router bits. The Infinity part numbers are, up cut bit — , the down cut bit — Visit the Infinity Tools web site — Click Here.

Have a comment about this story? Follow NewWoodworker. This is a Veteran Owned site. Click image to enlarge. The down cut bit left leaves very clean edges while the up cut version right is far better at evacuating chips but that action can fray the edges of the cut to some degree.

This up cut bit is great for deep mortises because of how well it evacuates the chips. The minor fraying of the edges is of little concern because they will be hidden by the tenon shoulders when the project is assembled. This closer look at the grooves cut by the down cut left and up cut right shows the marked difference in the edges they produce. All written, photographic and drawn materials are property of and copyright by NewWoodworker.

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Pen Kit Reference Chart. Press Releases. Resin Casting. Shop Talk. Woodcraft Magazine. Woodworking Adventures. Spiral Router Bits vs. Spiral Bits Leave a Clean Edge The three basic cutter configurations for spiral bits are up-cut, down-cut, and a combination of the two, known as a compression bit.

Straight Bits Come in Many Sizes and Bearing Configurations Router-bit manufacturers have difficulty making solid-carbide spiral bits with cutting diameters larger than their shanks.

Sharpening Spiral Bits Is Difficult, if Not Impossible Some woodworkers like to sharpen their straight bits, although I find it difficult to get it right and always send out my bits for sharpening.

Spiral Bits Can Be Risky to Use Spiral bits work incredibly well in the production environment and especially in CNC computer numerically controlled router industrial applications. Quick View Item 03K Quick View Item Write Comment You must be logged in to write a comment.

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