Router bit for cutting 1/8" hardboard door skins.

I make a lot of items out of 1/8 inch doorskins. They are mdf or hardboard with a veneer skin on one side. As of now I cut them with a laser but I foresee needing a faster way to cut them out with in the next couple months. The first thing my mind turns to is buying a new bigger laser, but as they say, if your only tool is a hammer then everything looks like a nail.

I would like to try cutting them out with a homemade pin router. Then if it works and is faster then I would like to look into buying an actual pin router. I would like a bit that leaves as thin of a kerf as piratical and I also don't want to have to have to precut the pieces of door skin to be close to the template before I cut out the piece.

The thing is up to this point my only real experience with using a router is for rounding over corners so I have no idea what I should be using for a bit to test this out. I am sure I could just go buy a bunch of bits and eventually find something that works, but it would be much less expensive if someone could tell me at least the general style of bit I should be looking for.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com/2-f...teside-ru1600/

I use something like this in my pin router. If you are cutting lots of doodads, a pin router is a great way to go. Sometimes a cr onsrud will slip through an auction at super low prices-- they have fallen out of style with the availability of cnc routers.

A picture with dimensions of what you want to cut will yield better answer results. Is 1/4" diameter too large? An 1/8" diameter? Panel pilot bits drill through and then cut panels but, I doubt this is to the scale you are after. I hesitate to offer more "maybes" without a better picture of what the shape looks like that you want to cut ;-).

Here are some examples.
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Mostly what I am interested in is for the guns. They are about 28 inches long. All the other items have too many details. I think 1/4 inch diameter would be about as big as I would want to go but narrower would be better. I assume if I get too small of a diameter the tip speed wont be fast enough.

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Originally Posted by Joe Hillmann

Here are some examples.

Mostly what I am interested in is for the guns. They are about 28 inches long. All the other items have too many details. I think 1/4 inch diameter would be about as big as I would want to go but narrower would be better. I assume if I get too small of a diameter the tip speed wont be fast enough.

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Joe- those patterns have pin router written all over them. the 1/8 cutters will work well, and I have used down to 1/16. precisebits sells the small sized cutters.

I stopped in all the hardware stores in town and couldn't find any spiral cutting bits so I bought a straight cut 1/8" bit and set up a very basic pin jig. It works great. I have just played with it so I don't know if it is faster than the laser or not but I will do some more playing to find out. If it does end up being faster I will have to figure out a way to make it "plunge" so I can also do the inside of the cut outs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joe Hillmann

I stopped in all the hardware stores in town and couldn't find any spiral cutting bits ....

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You know what a Roto-zip is? It is a rotary tool mostly used for cutting sheetrock around electrical boxes. The bits look like a twist-drill bit, but are ground differently so they cut when you push the tool sideways. The bit can also plunge. The bits are thin, and break often, so they're generally sold in a pack of ten or so. They come in different diameters. Any hardware store or lumberyard selling to contractors sells the bits.

I saw them but all they had was drywall cutters. I don't know if that is the only cutter they make or if they also make one for wood. Although then I would have to buy an 1/8" collect for my router. The plunge ability of the bit wouldn't be of any use to me with the set up I have now, I need to be able to plunge with accuracy, which is what an overarm router does.

I've tried the rotozip cutters, and they break.

Here is the type of pin router that I have:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02AIVmUD6_U

These can be bought sometimes for just a few hundred dollars at auction, ebay, etc. Good dust collection, Easy to see the pattern (you follow the pattern- don't worry, the cutter will cut whether you are looking at it or not), and if the router gives up, it's a can be easily replaced or repaired.