Woodpeckers president, Rich Hummel, spent some time in the Shaper booth at AWFS in Las Vegas. He came home fired up about producing more 8mm shank bits for the Shaper/Festool community. A few months ago we launched Variable Helix bits in 1/2" and 1/4" shank. What's unique about Variable Helix is how well they behave in long cut lengths for mortising and tenoning. We began experimenting with them for our Multi-Router and the PantoRouter. As soon as Rich hit the door this morning, he had the prototype team working on 8mm Variable Helix bits. I literally just came back to my office from testing them with the Origin and they are amazing. In less than 2 weeks we will be shipping 8mm Variable Helix straight bits with cut lengths of 20, 25 and 35mm.
New 8mm Bits from Ultra-Shear
- Thread starter jeffinsgf
- Start date
Neil Lickfold
Member
Variable helix or odd flute geometry has been a secret for reaming very round holes for a long time. They only became commercially available around 2004 or so. Prior to that, it was either a custom made to order run, or you hade to either modify existing or make you own for the particular job. Only 2 degrees radial difference is enough to make it work. New things are being investigated all the time, and new innovations with very slight changes . are showing to have a significant impact on the life of tools as well. Like in the root of the gullet cut, instead of being a constant depth, making it a variable depth with a slight ramp up then down, kicks the chips off the root of the cutter, making it cooler cutting, and a longer tool life. An existing constant gullet cutter can be modified with a diamond ball mounted point, and just make some relief scallops on the length. They only need to be mm to mm deep to have a significant impact. They behave like a corner chip breaker in a way.
Crazyraceguy
Member
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2015
- Messages
- 5,073
That's fantastic news. I really favor 8mm. I use them in the MFK 700 and OF1010 as well as Origin.
rmhinden
Member
Yes, great news. I will order more of your new 8mm shank bits once they are available. I have several of your current ones.
Bob
Bob
