Reversible stile and rail router bits

[Richard Pothier]

Hi all,
I just joined this group and am sure I will really enjoy it. What I have is a pair of reversible stile and rail router cutters to use for making raised panel doors. I thought that by buying two sets I would be able to leave them set-up and not have to disassemble them to go from cope to pattern. Have any of found any difficulty getting the joints to close on both the face and back of the frame? The cutters I have were obtained locally from Magnate who also sells one piece cutters as well as the line Amana cutters. Since I was sticker-shocked at the price of the Amana buts I opted for the 'house brand' I am feeling now that the 'cheap' way was the wrong way. The pattern I am using is the ogee cut and the two radii on the cutter (s) do not seem to work together to allow a reasonable fit. Have you folks had better luck with a set of solid cutters ? At this juncture, I fell that for my next project of this type, I will bite the bullet and buy the Amana. Sorry for this long post.
Richard

[Todd Burch]

Hi Richard. It's very possible to get a bad set of cutters, but realize that you are using two different cutters.

If you only use 1 of the set, and reverse it for the second profile, do you get a good match?

If you still get a poor match, perhaps (if you haven't had them too long) the dealer will make it good for you. If you do get a good profile, then that would tell me that each set was ground to match itself, which, is a good thing.

Todd.

[Richard Pothier]

Hi Richard. It's very possible to get a bad set of cutters, but realize that you are using two different cutters.

If you only use 1 of the set, and reverse it for the second profile, do you get a good match?

If you still get a poor match, perhaps (if you haven't had them too long) the dealer will make it good for you. If you do get a good profile, then that would tell me that each set was ground to match itself, which, is a good thing.

Todd.

Hi Todd,

I have tried all combinations with both sets and the results are the same. I think I have two sets of a bad run of cutters. I have had them too long to try to return them. The vendor, MAGNATE, seems to be an honorable company and I have had many good cutters from them over the past few years. I will probably buy the higher end Amana brand from them also.
Richard

[Jim DeLaney]

Hi Todd,

I have tried all combinations with both sets and the results are the same. I think I have two sets of a bad run of cutters. I have had them too long to try to return them. The vendor, MAGNATE, seems to be an honorable company and I have had many good cutters from them over the past few years. I will probably buy the higher end Amana brand from them also.
Richard

The reversible cutter set I used to have worked very well, but it was very finicky to set up. It came with maybe a dozen brass shims in varying thicknesses, and it must have taken me at least a dozen tries to get the shims set up right so that the cuts would match. After that, every joint was a good one, though.

Using two different cutter sets may be contributing to your problem, though. Even though they're supposedly the same, manufacturing variances may make the two of them incompatible. I'd suggest using only one of them, and converting it from rail to stile - paying very close attention to the order and size of the afore-mentioned shims.

BTW, even the so-called 'matched' two piece sets often need shimming. The Jesada set I have was the worst. Out of the box, it needed about half a dozen shims in the stile bit to make it come close to matching the rail bit. Even then, the groove cutter cut too deep, and I had to have about 0.010" ground off it to make them match. PITA, but now it works very well.

[Tom Hintz]

Richard,
I'm not sure what you mean by the front and rear surfaces being the same, but if you mean line up with each other, that is usually a depth setting problem. With most rail snd stile bit sets, matched or reversable, getting the depth right is crucial.
I have a story on my site that has some photos that may help you get this right if this is in fact the problem.
I'll try to add a link below. this is my first post on here so bear with me....

http://www.newwoodworker.com/ralstilbitset.html

Tom Hintz
www.newwoodworker.com

[Richard Pothier]

Thanks Tom and the rest of you that have shared your knowledge on my question.
Richard

[STEVE PHILLIPS]

Hi Richard. The problem you're having might not be your router bits. Try this. Make sure you tighten your reversable bits the same each time. You have to know, that it takes different pressures to cut a stile and a rail. It is easier to cut with the grain than to cut against it. The small area that tha rail touches the fence or pilot bearing has a tandency to push it away compaired to a long stile Take two 1x4x1' and run one with the stile side and one with the rail side. Make sure you run each one with the grain ( the long side ). they should fit perfect. If you cut a rail and it pushes away, which it can do, slow your router speed down or feed your matireal slower. I have gone to a friends house who had the same problem and that solve it. If you do woodworking as a hobby and not as a job, any good router bit will work, as long as you buy all your bits at one time. Heck, even Sears will have what you need. Spend the money if you want, but make sure that the problem is not your knowladge before spending 200 to 600 dollars on something that you will have the same results with. I've been teaching woodworking and woodworking tools for many years. Also, rememeber to press your work down your material firm against the router table or if your using a handheld router to keep it flat on your matiraail. Here's a trick. Before you cut your rails to width, route an entire board and than cut it to width. This will give you the same control of a rail cut as with a stile cut. If this does not solve your problem, write me with the private massage board.