Wood Router Bits - They work on Metal!

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joe_m

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I woke up this morning thinking I wanted to build an infill plane with the sides dovetailed to the bottom. Of course the only dovetail milling bit I have was too shallow. On a whim I grabbed an old carbide router bit with a 1/4" shank, slapped it in the mill and gave it a spin. I tried to mill out a single dovetail in a 1/4" side, 1/2" deep - almost the full depth of the router bit. I was certain it wasn't going to work so I didn't even bother changing the speed from whatever it was on.

Well, I fed very slowly by hand and it cut perfectly. No melting, no hammering, no chipped cutter. I was going to order some inexpensive dovetail cutters online ($15ish + postage) and wait a week for delivery, but now I'm just going to pick up a couple of router bits on my next trip into town (under $10, no postage, instant gratification).
 
I have been contemplating using some 1/2" shank bits in my mill also, I'm assuming your machining aluminum.
 
Charley Davidson said:
I have been contemplating using some 1/2" shank bits in my mill also, I'm assuming your machining aluminum.
Click to expand...

Nope - 1/4" thick mystery steel bought from Lowes!

I went ahead and milled out the rest of the dovetails on the piece. I went too fast for the 3rd from the left. That started some vibrating and I ended up with a slightly rough corner. Otherwise, all is good so far. To saw those out and file by hand would have taken me forever (with cr@ppy results).

dovetailedmetal.jpg
 
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Thats intersting bit of infro.
I happen to have 2 boxes of router bits, and wondered if they could work on steel. Ive often though about trying those round over bits on the mill. I think Im going to try it out. Router bits are cheap enough, and available in many stores.

Thanks for sharing
 
Thats good info. And they come in many shapes and best of all, they're cheap.:shush:
 
So are all the tools all carbide? Or did you guys use some HSS too? That would be way too good because router bits are available everwhere including flea markets and big box stores on a Sunday afternoon. Could very possibly make a cheap prototyping tool for a one off or proof of concept build. I always wondered what the difference between router and milling bits could be, other than angles of relief and attack. Those could also be ground once the bit became dulled too. Yup, thats a great little find for a Sunday need it now project. Thanks for the idea, did you get any pics while you were doing this? And did you use any kind of coolant?
Bob
 
I had read about using carbide router bits on aluminum, as long as you use the speeds and feeds for aluminum. It makes sense that it would work for other metals as well. I'd expect similar results for HSS.

Joe, did you cut a straight slot in each location first, or just give 'er with the dovetail?
 
I gotta try this out. I have lots of carbide tipped router bits.
 
Im very interested to try this. I have several of the round over bits, and just gotta test it out. Thats amazing you did this without first cutting a straight slot Joe.

I will report back with my results using router bits. Of coarse the quality of the bits can vary alot, and getting the feeds right could take a bit of trial and error. My mill doesnt turn near as fast as a router, but it does go to 4600 RPM before I use the VFD to over speed it. That may help being able to get the RPM up, but still no where close to router speeds.

Ill let you guys know how things go.
 
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