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
- 5,114
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
Cheese
Member
Hey @jeffinsgf would it'd be possible to produce a Deep Dive video on the advantages of the variable geometry router bits? From personal experience, I'm well aware of the nicer finishes attained with helix bits vs older traditional straight edge bits, that's a pretty dynamic difference. However, I'd suspect the difference between helix bits and variable helix bits is a bit more nuanced. It'd be nice to see the actual real world advantages.
luvmytoolz
Member
Neil Lickfold
Member
On a wood router with variable helix cutters, they cut smoother and cooler and less total vibration is my experience. Can also take a deeper cut with the same diameter cutter with less burning. I have only tried 10mm 3 flute variable ali milling cutters. They don't have the upcut downcut geometry. So I too am keen to try these new 8mm cutters when they are available. The variable helix works well when in a full cut, ie 180 deg of the cutter is engaged and you have 2 flutes simultaneously engaged on that wall /surface it does not get a harmonic, and the cutting area at any one time is greatly reduced. With a battery tool, will give you a lot longer run time or more material cut for the battery size. As a side note, the ali cutters can be got in DLC coating, and they are very good for more abrasive types of wood or for particle board or as we call it custom wood.
I can't say that they are significantly more quiet when using the router as the noise of the machine, the cutter and the vacuum make it difficult to tell. Certainly on my cnc router, the variable pitch cutters are significantly quieter than the non variable pitch cutters.
I can't say that they are significantly more quiet when using the router as the noise of the machine, the cutter and the vacuum make it difficult to tell. Certainly on my cnc router, the variable pitch cutters are significantly quieter than the non variable pitch cutters.
Neil and luvmytoolz covered pretty well as far as I know (so far). I will be doing some comparisons and hopefully they will make it to a Deep Dive. I had not thought of the harmonics Neil mentioned, but it makes a lot of sense. The first time I cut a 2" long tenon on the Multi-Router I was stunned by how well the cutter behaved extending that far from the collet...but that's a 1/2" dia. cutter mounted in a very rigid machine. Friday, Rich and I cut a 25mm x 25mm mortise 35mm deep with the Origin and the 8mm Variable Helix. We cut it in 4 passes and the walls and bottom looked like they had been hand planed. Looking forward to today. I haven't done any joinery with the Origin, yet. That's about to change.
etds4u
Member
Fantastic news! I love the 8mm shank Ultra-Shear bits from Woodpeckers, so always good to hear when they offer more.
