Hi Guys.
Was practicing a shop sign on an old piece of scrap pine. 98% of job went fine. On the last border cut the router descended so far it went into my waste board and almost got the aluminum rails. Any ideas? The board was 0.68 inches deep and the last cut was only set to 0.18 inches deep. Insites? I’m new at this so not sure what the heck went wrong.
Post the file?
Were you cutting a slot just as narrow as the tool? Where possible, avoid that — cut as a pocket down to tab height or the penultimate pass.
Yes, I was just cutting a slot equal to the width of the cutter. Avoid that? I will cut as a pocket. Thanks!
Still, I wonder why it over-rode the maximum depth I had set.
It’s interesting to watch the machine work. I try to ascertain the logic in what gets cut first, etc. Can’t see any yet.
It’s possible the high engagement pulled the bit downward from the collet. The machine didn’t cut too deep, the bit got longer.
Mmm… Very interesting. I’ve been using just the locking button on the router to tighten the bit. Maybe I need to use both wrenches instead to really make sure to bit is locked in. Thanks.
We recommend that the button only be used to hand-tighten things so that they will stay in place while one fully tightens with a pair of good quality wrenches. The community has the following notes on Carbide Compact Router/Makita RT0700/0700 shaft and collet/nut wrench sizes:
I have an SO3 with HDZ and the Dewalt 611 Router. Today I was cutting a pocket that was 8.5" x11" and .125" deep. I was sitting in front of the machine and looking at my phone. I heard the router start making a loud noise. I stopped the job and instead of cutting a doc of of 0.040" the cut was about a 1/4" deep. I always look at my bit when inserted into the collet and had just cleaned the router shaft and router collet with brake cleaner. The bit was a #251 1/4" down cut bit. The bit had come loose and dropped down. Luckily the deep pass was in the middle of the pocket and will covered over with a 1/8" piece of baltic birch that has been lasered. So no loss. I took the collet off and replaced it with a spare one I had. So after that I paused every 10 minutes to check the tightness of the collet and it never came loose. So I suspect I have a bad 1/4" collet. I put it in a plastic bag and marked it BAD?.
Is it possible that you bit came loose? There have been some reports of the router plunging into the material and there are several threads. Usually it is the first cut and not in the middle of the cut. Having the router unexpectedly plunge in the middle of the cut is usually a loss of steps on the Z. If you were cutting with recommended F&S then as @WillAdams mentioned use a wider pocket than the bit to help reduce stress on the bit cutting a contour straight down the width of the bit.
One way to help with bit insertion is the bit should be inserted at least to the top of the collet. With a Makita/C3D router use the button and one wrench to tighten up the bit so it does not fall out. Then use two wrenches to finish tightening up the bit. The collet, collet nut and router shaft have to be clean and lubricant free. Lastly when you insert your bit and you suspect it is coming loose then put a black magic marker on the top of the bit at the bottom of the collet. That gives you a visual reference if your bit is slipping. You can periodically pause and see if the mark is still where you made it. If it has moved down or disappeared you can stop the job and tighten the bit. In your case it was your last tool path so edit your c2d file and disable all but the last tool path and save it. Then start the job over with only that last tool path.
I did the same thing when I did one of my first cuts. I ended up cutting right into one of my aluminum rails as well and it happened fast. I learned very quickly to a) tighten the tool using 2 wrenches and b) use a pocketing toolpath. I have never had my tool come loose again.
Searching through the archives will reveal that the crazy cuts occur at the end of a run. All other things being equal, it comes down to the forces applied to the bit over the long haul.
Link to the Park Tool wrenches on Amazon:
Yes, but one can probably get them more quickly by just dropping by your local bike shop.
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