Single flute carbide cutters

[luke11cnc]

I have ordered some today ready for when I'm up and running

James

[Karl]

OK, let's just recap here. Are single flute cutters to be preferred over 2 flute (or more) cutters when it comes to working with hard woods such as oak?

We mostly do detailed (depth 5-10mm) v-carving and flat bottom clearance in small areas and therefore the feed rate rarely seems to get up to max' rate because of the stepper motor acceleration and de-acceleration times; feed rate typically 300-500mm/min.

[packmansdaddy]

Hi Karl,

I am certainly no expert on cutters, just an ordinary user. I do earn a bit of money cutting stuff, mainly aluminium but also wood, MDF and plastics. I bought this single flute cutter because of its "good looks" and when I actually tried it (many weeks later) I was stunned about its performance.
As I take a lot of knowledge from the forum I thought I give a bit of info back as I am sure that some will profit using these cutters. As mentioned, I now can easily cut aluminium on my home made router as before, with whatever I tried, the results were not impressive.
You will have to try one for your application to see how it works. I made a nice holder for my collets in a "hardish" Australian timber, some kind of a redwood. And it worked fantastic.

I buy these direct in China as I visit there quite often
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/9030...og=minisite_CP
but am not sure if they sell direct to outside China or what is the minimum quantity. There are also a few shops with the product on EBay and yes, there are high quality ones for a lot more money too. I regard the cheap ones as throw away's but never actually did throw one away yet. So far I made around 200 liters of chips with just a 4mm and a 6mm one.

I published the video's as I realized that I make big words and needed to back it up. I will make another one cutting off a 1/2" aluminium plate with a 6mm cutter in one go at 100mm/min (4"/min). All I can say is that I could not do this with any other cutter I have tried and I paid top dollars for famous brands. Not even close. Just give them a go and I am confident it will work just fine or you can use it for something else.

[packmansdaddy]

Added one more video, cutting 10mm (3/8) aluminium bar stock with 6mm cutter at 100mm/min (4"/min). I do not want to risk to break the cutter so I cut quite slow. Did cut some parts in 1/2" aluminium in one go at 4"/min, no problem at all. Surfacing leaves a beautiful texture because of the center dome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZVT8ORdQu0

I have excellent results in acrylic, MDF and ply. Just finished my new vacuum table for my small router (2'x3') and will try to make a video with the different materials.

[packmansdaddy]

just added a small video cutting 12mm ply.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1QcqRAIDl4

This is the same cutter as I used to cut aluminium on my Syil X6. The finish is amazingly clean despite the high cutting speed. I usually do not cut this fast, only about half the speed you see on the video.