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PROPER
FEEDING
The right feed is neither too fast nor too slow. It is the rate
at which the bit is being advanced firmly and surely to
produce a continuous spiral of uniform chips -- without
hogging into the wood to make large individual chips or, on
the other hand, to create only sawdust. If you are making a
small diameter, shallow groove in soft, dry wood, the
proper feed may be about as fast as you can travel your
router along your guide line. On the other hand, if the bit is
a large one, the cut is deep or the wood is hard to cut, the
proper feed may be a very slow one. Then, again, a
cross-grain cut may require a slower pace than an identi-
cal with grain cut in the same workpiece.
There is no fixed rule. You will learn by experience from
practice and use. The best rate of feed is determined by
listening to the sound of the router motor and by feeling
the progress of each cut. If at all possible, always test a
cut on a scrap piece of the workpiece wood, beforehand.
SPEED
SELECTION
In general, if the material being cut is hard, the cutter size
is large, or the depth of cut is deep, then your router
should be run at slower speeds. When these situations
exist, turn the variable speed control selector until the
desired speed is reached. NOTE: Carbide cutters cut at
higher speeds than steel cutters and should be used when
cutting very hard materials.
FORCE FEEDING
Clean, smooth routing and edge shaping can be done only
when the bit is revolving at a relatively high speed and is
taking very small bites to produce tiny, cleanly severed
chips. If your router is forced to move forward too fast, the
RPM of the bit becomes slower than normal in relation to
its forward movement. As a result, the bit must take bigger
bites as it revolves. "Bigger bites" mean bigger chips, and
a rougher finish. Bigger chips also require more power,
which could result in the router motor becoming over-
loaded.
Under extreme force-feeding
conditions the relative RPM
of the bit can become so slow -- and the bites it has to
take so large -- that chips will be partially knocked off
(rather than fully cut off), with resulting splintering and
gouging of the workpiece. See Figure 15.
Your Craftsman router is an extremely high-speed tool
(10,000 - 22,000 RPM no-load speed), and will make
clean, smooth cuts if allowed to run freely without the
overload of a forced (too fast) feed. Three things that
cause "force feeding" are bit size, depth-of-cut, and
workpiece characteristics.
The larger the bit or the deeper
the cut, the more slowly the router should be moved
forward. If the wood is very hard, knotty, gummy or damp,
the operation must be slowed still more.
TOO FAST
TOO SLOW
Fig. 15
You can always detect "force feeding" by the sound of the
motor. Its high-pitched whine will sound lower and stronger
as it loses speed. Also, the strain of holding the tool will be
noticeably increased.
TOO SLOW FEEDING
It is also possible to spoil a cut by moving the router
forward too slowly. When it is advanced into the work too
slowly, a revolving bit does not dig into new wood fast
enough to take a bite; instead, it simply scrapes away
sawdust-like particles. Scraping produces heat, which can
glaze, burn, or mar the cut -- in extreme cases, san even
overheat the bit so as to destroy its hardness.
In addition, it is more difficult to control a router when the
bit is scraping instead of cutting. With practically no load
on the motor the bit will be revolving at close to top RPM,
and will have a much greater than normal tendency to
bounce off the sides of the cut (especially, if the wood has
a pronounced grain with hard and soft areas). As a result,
the cut produced may have rippled, instead of straight
sides. See Figure 15.
"Too-slow feeding" can also cause your router to take off in
a wrong direction from the intended line of cut. Always
grasp and hold your router firmly with both hands
when routing.
You can detect "too-slow feeding" by the runaway
too-highly pitched sound of the motor; or by feeling the
"wiggle" of the bit in the cut.
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