This is going to sound silly, but what cutters or coating is going to have
the best life. I mostly work with aluminum and flood coolant which gives me
quite long cutter life, but I am working on a wood project and I am seeing
results which look like the cutter is getting dull about mid project.

(1/16 ball end cutter, and I need to finish with a 1/32 cutter)

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
This is going to sound silly, but what cutters or coating is going to have the best
life. I mostly work with aluminum and flood coolant which gives me quite long
cutter life, but I am working on a wood project and I am seeing results which look
like the cutter is getting dull about mid project.

(1/16 ball end cutter, and I need to finish with a 1/32 cutter)


It may be getting coated/clogged with resin from the wood. A soak
in Simple Green and then a toothbrushing could solve the problem.
Art

"Artemus" wrote in message ...

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
This is going to sound silly, but what cutters or coating is going to have the
best life. I mostly work with aluminum and flood coolant which gives me quite
long cutter life, but I am working on a wood project and I am seeing results which
look like the cutter is getting dull about mid project.

(1/16 ball end cutter, and I need to finish with a 1/32 cutter)


It may be getting coated/clogged with resin from the wood. A soak
in Simple Green and then a toothbrushing could solve the problem.
Art
Hit send too soon.
Another possibility is that you are machining a high silica content wood.
If so, the SiO2 dulls steel edges rapidly. Can you use carbide bit(s)?
Art

"Artemus" wrote in message
...

"Artemus" wrote in message
...

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
This is going to sound silly, but what cutters or coating is going to
have the best life. I mostly work with aluminum and flood coolant which
gives me quite long cutter life, but I am working on a wood project and
I am seeing results which look like the cutter is getting dull about mid
project.

(1/16 ball end cutter, and I need to finish with a 1/32 cutter)


It may be getting coated/clogged with resin from the wood. A soak
in Simple Green and then a toothbrushing could solve the problem.
Art
Hit send too soon.
Another possibility is that you are machining a high silica content wood.
If so, the SiO2 dulls steel edges rapidly. Can you use carbide bit(s)?
Art

I am already using a high quality micro grain carbide cutter. This job is
in red oak which is fairly hard as woods go. I was wondering if a diamond
coated or zirn coated carbide cutter might last longer.

You don't say what kind of wood - many have a lot of silica in the wood.
Carbide is the best. Don't use C2 wood working carbide - go steel
working tools - C5 or higher.

Wood is bad on cutters.

I used to cut fiberglass with a 10 mil cutter and that was great carbide.

Martin

On 7/14/2012 9:12 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
This is going to sound silly, but what cutters or coating is going to
have the best life. I mostly work with aluminum and flood coolant which
gives me quite long cutter life, but I am working on a wood project and
I am seeing results which look like the cutter is getting dull about mid
project.

(1/16 ball end cutter, and I need to finish with a 1/32 cutter)

"Martin Eastburn" wrote in message
...
You don't say what kind of wood - many have a lot of silica in the wood.
Carbide is the best. Don't use C2 wood working carbide - go steel working
tools - C5 or higher.

Wood is bad on cutters.

I used to cut fiberglass with a 10 mil cutter and that was great carbide.

Martin

Thanks. I am using the same cutters I normally use on aluminum. They are
definitely not lasting as long on wood as they do on aluminum. This project
is oak. Looks like red oak.



On 7/14/2012 9:12 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
This is going to sound silly, but what cutters or coating is going to
have the best life. I mostly work with aluminum and flood coolant which
gives me quite long cutter life, but I am working on a wood project and
I am seeing results which look like the cutter is getting dull about mid
project.

(1/16 ball end cutter, and I need to finish with a 1/32 cutter)