Why did my router bit smoke?

[Wade Lippman]

I am building a cabinet and screwed up. I forgot to rout the recess for the backpanel before assembling it. I normally do that with a straight bit on a router table; but I guess I was too eager to see it assembled.

Okay, no big deal; I used the rabbet bit off my rail and stile cutter. It happens to be exactly the right size. If it wasn't for having to chisel out the corners and around the shelves, it might even be a better solution than a straight bit on a router table. Or so I thought.

I set it for 1/8" deep (3/8" wide) and did it. It smoked so badly I had to take it outside. I did the other 1/8" in 3 passes, and even then it smoked a little.

I don't understand why. I have cut many rabbets with it as part of the rail and stile cutter without any smoking (sometimes in one pass); why now? The only difference is that before the router was mounted in a table and now was by hand, but I can't see why that would matter. I went real slowwwlllllyyyyy, but it didn't help. (all red oak)

Okay, it is an old 1hp router, but it does the r&s just fine.

Any ideas would be appreciated, for future reference.

[Gary]

What's smoking? The wood or the bit? Is the bearing seized up?

[Doug Miller]

Is there any possibility at all that you mounted the cutter upside down?

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

[Wade Lippman]

Pathetically enough, yes, that is it. If anyone else had done it, I would have said they were a moron. Maybe there is lesson in there somewhere.

The cutter looks okay, presumably I haven't done any actual damage to it?

Thanks.

[Greg Neill]

Rabbeting bits generally are meant to cut with their sides, not their tops. You want a proper mortising bit for cutting slots.

[Doug Miller]

Probably not. But clean it first before you use it again. Washing soda in warm water does a great job of removing pitch build-up.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

[John McCoy]

"Wade Lippman" wrote in news:Jtwlb.515$ [e-mail]:

My guess is you went too slow. Even with the sharpest bit, there's friction between the bit & the wood. If the bit stays on the same part of the wood too long, then there's smoke.

Try again, and try to move the router along at about the same speed as you would feed stock on the router table.

John

[Joe Gorman]

[Paul Andersen]

For sure you don't want to do the slowwwllllllyyyyyy thing. It is the chips that carry away the heat so keep things moving. The bit is still sharp?

Woodchip

[Routerman P. Warner]

Cutter is upside down on the arbor.

(Routers)

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[RodC]

Wade, check the direction of the cutter that routes the rabbet. I went through the very same thing with one of the reversible rail/stile bits. Created quite a bit of smoke routing some pine. After a bit of time trying to figure out what the hell was going on, it wasn't until I broke the bit down to clean it that I realized that I flipped the rabbet cutter so it was trying to cut in the wrong direction. I was surprised it cut at all and didn't explode on me. Seems I forgot what the rotation of the bit should have been.

[ken]

Always check your setup on a scrap piece of the same wood/thickness etc before jumping right in on your good piece. You probably know that, but in your eagerness you passed on this step. You were lucky this time. Ken, makin dust in NS

[bob]

Brilliant deduction, Mr. Watson!

[Silvan]

Because it gave in to peer pressure.

[Rob Stokes]

LOL!!!

Aw man!! ALL over the monitor

ROb

[Silvan]

:)