DF500 Max Cut Depth Issue?

[onocoffee]

A little background on my question:
I'm making a shop cart from 3/4" underlayment plywood. I didn't realize it until the next day after glueup that the two side panels had a height difference of 24mm (I lay my excuse on my inexperience and that I was assembling it on its side).

I decided to use the TS55 to cut the shorter panel just below the 2/4" top, and then took a piece of scrap and cut it down to the 24mm height difference. My intention was to use this little piece and glue it in to level out the top. After making sure it would fit, I decided to use the DF500 to cut a 5mm mortise as deep as the tool would go (28mm). As I was cutting the mortise, when the tool would seem to get close to the 28mm depth, I felt a lot of resistance. I didn't push the tool and backed off. It felt like it could go a little deeper but I didn't want to risk damaging the bit.

My thought is that at that depth and that size of cutter, there's too much buildup of sawdust in the mortise and that's what's creating the resistance? I was able to get the 5x30 domino in the mortise that should give some additional strength to the panel.

Would my conclusions on this be correct? Thanks!

 

[ChuckM]

If you used the joiner with proper dust extraction (e.g. CT 15 or Midi), you could pretty much rule out sawdust as the reason for any resistance.

 

[onocoffee]

If you used the joiner with proper dust extraction (e.g. CT 15 or Midi), you could pretty much rule out sawdust as the reason for any resistance.

Ah yes, I should have noted that. I am using the CT MIDI I on full extraction. And while I haven't had any issues with sawdust previously, this is my thought because I was cutting a mortise much deeper than I would normally for a 5mm Domino.

 

[luvmytoolz]

So long as you're not plunging too fast for the extractor you'll only ever see maybe a minute amount of dust in the slot no matter what size dusty you're using.

 

[thudchkr]

The bit itself is the issue.  If you measure the cutting length of the bit, you will find it is only around 25mm before is flares out. The wider shank is rubbing against the sides of your mortise and if you look closely, you can see the rubbing on the top edge of your mortise.

I encountered this myself, and found the the 25 depth setting was the maximum you can use.  IIRC I was using either the 6mm or 8mm cutter, but I just went out and measured the 5mm cutter to be sure it is the same.