Some of you may be following my previous thread about making cabinet doors.
Does anyone know if the stack rail and stile bits shown midway down this page are any good? I wonder if they are one of those tools trying to be good at multiple things but not really good at any.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Doing a large kitchen project like you are discussing is going to place a major load on routers and especially router bits.
You want the best router bits you can find for such a project, it will be money well spent.
These days I'd look at Whiteside and also maybe Infinity which I've had good luck with in the past.
Lew
I've used a few MCLS bits, no problems with them. If their bits were junk they wouldn't have been around for years.
As far as stacked vs separate bits goes, I don't see much advantage of one over the other. Mine happen to be separate because they were meant for 3/4" doors but I also wanted to be able to use them on 1 1/2" doors.
Additionally, there is more than one way to skin a cat. You can...
I never quite saw the point in using stacked bits like you referenced. First off you still have to make an adjustment when moving from one operation to another.
Second is that you share a cutter for both operations which means that the bit will last 1/2 as long between resharpening.
All things being equal a two bit set will last twice as long.
I don't think the comparison has to go to extremes. I'd say, while they aren't junk, they've been around for years for the same reason any other company which makes inferior tools has... most people won't notice the difference nor will they ever spend the extra money for a superior tool.
I have plenty of their bits and you don't really notice them getting dull *a lot* faster than a better bit until you have a better bit. You don't notice how much more dull they are, out of the box, than a superior bit, until you've used them side-by-side, new.
How many guys use all kinds of saw blades until they finally fork over the money for a Forrest WWII, only to never use another blade again?
If I'm doing a whole kitchen's worth of cabinet doors, I'm not trusting a $50 set of bits when I can get a production set for $100-200.
I'm half way through my second set of cupboards with this bit
Besides the blades that you can see in the photo, there are at least four shims that have to be positioned properly to get a pattern match. If I ever loose the paper diagram of the blade/shim set up it will be a royal pain to figure out the alignment again.
Next time I'll get a matched set
Here's a photo of the cupboards I built for my kitchen
LdB
Unless I'm mistaken, there's a big difference between the stacked bit that I asked about vs. the revesible bit that you linked to.
The stack bit has three cutters and only requires a height adjustment, not a dismantling of a two cutter bit to change the configuration.
Honestly, I have never made door parts with a router bit. However, I make doors on shapers, and it is about the same principle. From the Amazon link, it looks like the center cutter would be working overtime, as it is used in both cope and stick cuts. This setup should work just fine, however, as long as you reduce the speed of the router. Be careful that the end cuts on the workpiece are perfectly square. As for the quality, well who knows? Maybe working with a lower cost cutters will be wise for someone who is learning.
I also noticed that the center cutter is not very tall, so I must wonder how it would work on lumber that might be like 13/16. The lumber would have to be the right thickness and stay in a sweet spot, it seems. Again, I have no experience doing this.
Have a good day, woodstuff
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