Feeling the "Burn"

[Owego]

Does anyone have a suggestion for how to prevent burning the ends of routed grooves ?  I'm routing finger grip slots in the end grain of a cutting board.  The material is maple.  I'm using a new 3/8" diameter carbide fluting bit to make a 5" long finger grip slots on opposite ends of an 18" cutting board.  Depth of cut is 3/8".  My problem is I'm burning the wood at the ends of the slots.  I've tried making very light cuts but haven't improved results.  Sanding the burnt wood out is very difficult.  Maybe there's a good tool to do this sanding ?
Any help will be appreciated.

Tom

 

[tjbnwi]

Try plunging each end, just a straight in plunge. Then connect the dots. Let the bit run free to cool between plunges. You may have to plunge 5/16, then clean up to 3/8".

Tom

 

[chrisrosenb]

If your router is variable speed, lower the speed of the router.

 

[rvieceli]

There are different ways to place those slots. What are trying to accomplish and what do you want the end result to be?  Pics even cell phone pics would be helpful.

 

[roblg3]

Keeping router bits clean and slowing speed has more or less fixed that issue for me. I always clean bits after using. I drop them in a lubricating solution and then just nylon brush them before loading into the router.

 

[KRKWW]

I've learned that when I slow down at corners or ends like you describe, I experience burn like this too. I have to keep the router moving. Your case is tough but try not to linger on those ends and as mentioned, a clean, sharp bit with lowering the router speed should help.

 

[Owego]

Testing 1 2 3  ...

 

[Bohdan]

To prevent that kind of burn you need to run the router slow, have a sharp and clean cutter, keep the router moving fast and don't pause or stop anywhere. Do a final shaving cut of about a millimetre very quickly. It may not give you the smoothest finish but there should be no burn.

Another alternative is to use a freshly sharpened high speed steel cutter but you will only get a limited number of cuts before it goes blunt and starts to burn everywhere.