With their fast, smooth, tear-out-free cuts, spiral router bits have actually been acquiring appeal lately. They’re well matched to lots of jobs like transmitting dados, rabbets, grooves, as well as edge trim. They’re not without limitations contrasted to straight router little bits.
The most significant restriction is that solid-carbide spiral little bits tend to set you back more than their straight counterparts, usually twice as much. This makes them a financial investment that you wish to make sure you’re going to utilize enough to validate the cost. If you’re unclear whether you’ll be using a spiral little bit enough, you could consider obtaining a carbide-tipped version instead to save some cash.
An additional factor to consider is that spiral little bits are restricted to cutter sizes that are no larger than their shanks, making them a poor choice for cutting full-thickness job. That restriction does not always indicate that you can’t make full-thickness cuts with a spiral little bit, but it does imply that you’ll be relying upon several superficial passes.
Spiral router bits likewise call for a much more aggressive feed rate than conventional straight-flute little bits. This is since the cutting edges do not enter into call with the wood simultaneously, as they make with straight-fluted little bits. The reducing sides are much more uniformly spaced as well as tackle the timber at a shear angle, which causes much less burning, babble, as well as vibration.
carbide router bits
Among the various other drawbacks to spiral bits is that they are not as efficient as straight-flute router bits at diving or slicing via the timber. Consequently, they can be difficult to make use of with design templates for dive cutting or when you need to puncture the whole thickness of a board.
To combat this, it’s needed to protect the work surface somehow, either by securing it or by putting it in a fixture. It’s additionally advised that you sweep the work surface while making dive cuts with a spiral bit to clear chips and stop warmth generation.

tapered end mill
The various other trouble is that the up-cut spiral style of these router little bits typically desires to get the workpiece, producing a need for you to hold it in some style or a minimum of keep it protected by a clamp. That’s not an issue if you just use the little bit for superficial passes, however if you require to make deeper ones it can be aggravating.
Sadly, solid-carbide spiral little bits aren’t easily available in shank-shod, bearing-guided layouts that would certainly enable you to do theme transmitting with the design template on top of the workpiece. That’s regrettable since they offer premium edge cuts and also are a terrific alternative to straight-fluted little bits for some directing tasks.