This is going to sound silly, but what cutters or coating is going to have the best life. I mostly work with aluminum and flood coolant which gives me quite long cutter life, but I am working on a wood project and I am seeing results which look like the cutter is getting dull about mid project.
(1/16 ball end cutter, and I need to finish with a 1/32 cutter)
It may be getting coated/clogged with resin from the wood. A soak in Simple Green and then a toothbrushing could solve the problem. Art
Hit send too soon. Another possibility is that you are machining a high silica content wood. If so, the SiO2 dulls steel edges rapidly. Can you use carbide bit(s)? Art
I am already using a high quality micro grain carbide cutter. This job is in red oak which is fairly hard as woods go. I was wondering if a diamond coated or zirn coated carbide cutter might last longer.
You don't say what kind of wood - many have a lot of silica in the wood. Carbide is the best. Don't use C2 wood working carbide - go steel working tools - C5 or higher.
Wood is bad on cutters.
I used to cut fiberglass with a 10 mil cutter and that was great carbide.
Mart> This is going to sound silly, but what cutters or coating is going to
Thanks. I am using the same cutters I normally use on aluminum. They are definitely not lasting as long on wood as they do on aluminum. This project is oak. Looks like red oak.
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