Routing marble?

I wouldn't attempt it. I'd look in the yellow pages for a stone cutter that has the proper equipment and pay them to route it.

I heard that you can rout marble. I know that they sell diamond router bits that will do it but somebody told me you can use carbide. max

You heard? Somebody told you? Well let's chuck in a carbide bit and watch the fireworks, lol.

There is marble and there is marble. Most require diamonds and water to cut, shape. The odd type of marble that can be worked dry, still needs diamonds at slower speeds as heat is the enemy. Carbide won't do the job. BTDT

One gets the feeling that we might all see a "This machine is not designed for shaping *ROCKS*" on our routers in a while.

Well, I rout aluminum from time to time and marble is way softer. Still, I'd think it is too brittle to rout well with a standard router bit....need something like a rotary file with lots of small cutters, carbide not necessary.

Another consideration is: are you sure it is actually marble? Drop some acid on it and see if it fizzes.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

| I recently finished a potato bin. It was supposed to be painted | poplar with a mahagony top. Not what SWMBO wanted so it is dyed & | stained poplar (not half bad). I found an OLD piece of marble which | fits top perfectly. It has a ogee type profile on 1 side and 2/3 of | two sides. The rest is a staright cut. I need to shape this part to | match. How?? Router with carbide bits? 41/2 inch grinder freehand? | Other ideas?

Jerry...

Marble can be machined with CNC routers. I would guess that carbide-tipped bits with 1/2" or larger shanks are used. Spindle and feed speeds would need to be chosen carefully, and there'd need to be an effective cooling system to prevent overheating the bit.

My quick search turned up a granite (harder than marble, I think) at

Some of my fellow ShopBot owners have used their machines to rout Corian with very nice results - and I'd expect that material is more like marble than granite.

I would suggest _not_ attempting to freehand cut with a portable router. Find someone with appropriate equipment and pay them to do the job for you.

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 22:58:09 -0500, the blithe spirit "Battleax" clearly indicated:

I watched a show the other night about a trade school. The guy was learning how to cut marble in the quarry with a 13' long carbide-tipped hydraulic-powered chainsaw. They used lots of water to cool it and there were no sparks at all. Marble is very soft, not hard like granite.

I'd try a cheapie carbide router bit on it.

Water is the trick here... go ahead and cool your routerbit with a gardenhose..

On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 11:44:24 -0400, the blithe spirit Robatoy clearly indicated:

Uh, Rob, you forgot the disclaimer. Sure as s*it, some idiot who follows Boob Villa will go out and try this today. Best hurry!

"Morris Dovey" wrote in news:o7XUe.3$yo3.4116 @news.uswest.net:

I've turned Corian on my wood lathe, with HSS tools. Makes a nice escutcheon for fixing tiling screwups, and a heck of a mess.

But marble? Find a pro, or find an alternative.

And the idea of water-cooling an electrical motor driven router scares the dickens out of me.

Patriarch

| "Morris Dovey" wrote in news:o7XUe.3$yo3.4116 | @news.uswest.net: | | || || Some of my fellow ShopBot owners have used their machines to rout || Corian with very nice results - and I'd expect that material is || more like marble than granite. | | I've turned Corian on my wood lathe, with HSS tools. Makes a nice | escutcheon for fixing tiling screwups, and a heck of a mess. | | But marble? Find a pro, or find an alternative. | | And the idea of water-cooling an electrical motor driven router | scares the dickens out of me.

It's only scary to me if I have to hold on to it. Water-based coolant use in machining isn't uncommon. One of the ShopBot guys used water cooling for a project in which he routed peoples' names in *bricks* (not a typical use for the machine).

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

"Morris Dovey" wrote in news:fJ_Ue.23$yo3.9035 @news.uswest.net:

My assumption is that the ShopBot was properly engineered to accomplish this and similar things.

Such tools are infrequently sold at Ace Hardware, and never at Sears...

Patriarch, who has no problem with using the right tool for the job...

| "Morris Dovey" wrote in news:fJ_Ue.23$yo3.9035 | @news.uswest.net: | | ||| And the idea of water-cooling an electrical motor driven router ||| scares the dickens out of me. || || It's only scary to me if I have to hold on to it. Water-based || coolant use in machining isn't uncommon. One of the ShopBot guys || used water cooling for a project in which he routed peoples' names || in *bricks* (not a typical use for the machine). | | My assumption is that the ShopBot was properly engineered to | accomplish this and similar things. | | Such tools are infrequently sold at Ace Hardware, and never at | Sears...

True (although I think the 'Bot was designed for woodworking - even if people have set it up for all kinds of jobs with lasers, plasma cutters, grinders,...)

It's possible to use a router on all kinds of unlikely materials (even Kevlar!) - and it's hardly ever necessary to buy tooling for one-off jobs when there are people around who already have that tooling and have accumulated experience in using it.

I've tackled a few "iffy" jobs with the CNC router where I've left the shop immediately after hitting the "start" key and returned when the job finished. These days I take that kind of job to someone who knows how to do it without risking injury.

Y'know, I just realized that I haven't bought _any_ tools at Ace (or Sears) since I got my first LV catalog...

| Patriarch, | who has no problem with using the right tool for the job...

-- Morris Dovey who is pleased to still count to ten on his fingers :)

turning marble on a lathe is not that big a deal. I'd be a bit nervous running a woodworking router bit on it freehand, though.

Thanks for all the responses! First some clarification; when I said OLD marble it is from a victorian bedroom set so from the late 1800's to early 1900's and sort of creme with the veining. When I said 1 side and two partials, it is only about 17 inches total to be worked.

Having read the responses, you should be aware my big router is a Hitachi M12V. I would need the M12VWP (waterproof) for the cooling ideas :)

Since there seems to be some consensus that it is workable, I'm going to try to knock the edges off (ala Norm) with the Makita grinder. As an old metal worker, there's nothing you can't do with a Makita grinder.

Depending on how that goes, I may buy a cheaper carbide bit to smooth the profile. I just can't do that to a Whiteside!

I'll let you know what I try and how it goes. The good news is that I have an second identical piece if I screw this one up (and don't kill myself).

Jerry

instead of using a router for the final shaping, consider using a scraper. think big scratch stock.

You can't rout marble. A router will cut it (marble is indeed pretty soft) but a router just doesn't have the rigidity for it. If you have a shaper (English term) which is like a big table-mounted router at a slow speed, then you can do it. A spindle moulder (big shaper, with replaceable knives) has too high a linear speed.

Diamond tooling works fine, but needs water or air blst cooling / lubrication / dust removal. It's not something you can run in a woodworking machine.

You can saw marble either dry, with a diamond sawblade in an angle grinder, or wet with a diamond tilesaw.

Marble really is pretty soft though. Get a carbide "tile file" and do it by hand. Then use a piece of tile setter's carbide-grit coated mesh to smooth it, then plain old silicon carbide wet ad dry paper glued to a plywood stick (or pulled tight over a cork block) to polish it. Don't work the paper with your hand, or you'll sand thumblines into it.

I'd still use a HSS bit...not as brittle as carbide and *much* harder than the marble.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at