Spiral end mill question

[John Holder]

Would a machine type SEM work in a router for wood cutting? Pricing from a couple of places seem much cheeper than rockler/wwodcraft. Is there something special about a carbide or cobalt cutter to cut wood instead of metal?

[Peter Pedisich]

John, I don't have an answer, but I'm looking forward to the replies as I was about to post a similar question when yours popped up!

pete

[Chris Friesen]

Depending on the specific flute design it could work okay or great. I think you'd generally want to go with the 2-flute designs.

I know of a fair number of people using end mills in wood without any problems.

[Raymond McInnis]

Depending on the specific flute design it could work okay or great. I think you'd generally want to go with the 2-flute designs.

I know of a fair number of people using end mills in wood without any problems.

With great success, I use spiral end mills from boeing surplus in my shaper and my horizontal mortiser. Both of these machines are reversible.

Have never used them in a router, but I think that it would be OK. Please check for rotation direction.

Does your router have speed control? My end mills work at about 8000 rpm.

[Steve knight]

yes they work fine I use them on my cnc router all of the time.
you want solid carbide and 2 flute. these are far stronger then the bits you find marketed for routers.

[John Holder]

yes they work fine I use them on my cnc router all of the time.
you want solid carbide and 2 flute. these are far stronger then the bits you find marketed for routers.

Do you mean carbide or cobalt. I have heard that cobalt was harder. Also what speeds do you use?

[Steve knight]

carbide solid carbide. the cobalt coating is for metalworking and will do nothing for woodworking. plus it can cost more
you can't run the bits like I do I would seldom go over 12k and cut anywhere from 1 inch per second to 6 depending on what I am cutting.
but a good guidline for long life the bit should only be warm to the touch. if it is really hot then you need to move faster if possible or turn down the rpms but on a regular router you may lose too much power.