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Beginner question on down cutters

Roto

New Member
Hi folks,

My question is when using a down cutter how do I get the swarf to adhere to the part of the cut I am iscarding.

E.g. if I am cutting on the outside of an A I want the swarf to cling to the centre of the A and to the outside piece I am going to discard.

Then when cutting a letter through a piece and I am throwing away the A How do I get the swarf to cling to the piece I am discarding leaving me with a clean centre A and a clean intercut.

I hope I am making myself clear.

I will attach a screen cap of my router settings.

TIA
upload_2018-7-18_10-47-35.png
 

letterman7

New Member
While I always use an upcut, your setting tells the tale - change from climb cut to conventional milling and see if that gives you what you're looking for.
 

Roto

New Member
While I always use an upcut, your setting tells the tale - change from climb cut to conventional milling and see if that gives you what you're looking for.
Thanks for that L7, I am trying to understand the mechanics of what is happening in each of those scenarios. I am going to run some tests this arvo using Climb and Conventional.
 

bowtievega

Premium Subscriber
In our shop we cut everything with a climbing setup. Are you trying to ask how to place tabs or bridges on your parts to keep them connected to the sheet during cutting? I see a option for bridges on that page, is that not what you are trying to do? Sorry if i'm not understanding lol.
 

Ian Stewart-Koster

Older Greyer Brushie
Why do you want swarf on anythnig?
Last time we used a downcut cutter, everything cut cleanly with no edge fluff on any parts-inside or outside- and we went through 8 sheets of plywood like that.
 

James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
I'm going to take a wild guess and mention the word "burr"...those ragged little overhangs at the edge of anything you cut. Is that what you mean?

If so, they can never be eliminated using a milling/router cutter. They can only reduced by taking a light finish cut.
 

johnnysigns

New Member
How did the conventional milling work? Are you cutting material much thicker than the diameter of your tooling?
 

Ian Stewart-Koster

Older Greyer Brushie
If you'd try the so-called 'expensive' Onsrud cutters, instead of cheap chinese ebay ones, for the same purpose, you might find it is a solution...
A quality tool does make a huge difference! you can hold the two and no see the difference, but use them, and the difference is night and day.
 

astro8

New Member
He most likely is cutting acm, acp so when you use a downcut and climbmill all the swarf sticks to the scrap and not to the part that you want to keep
 

Roto

New Member
He most likely is cutting acm, acp so when you use a downcut and climbmill all the swarf sticks to the scrap and not to the part that you want to keep

Thanks astro8, you nailed it down cutter with Climb milling.
 
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