New 8mm Shank Bits from Woodpeckers

[Cheese]

Well many, many, many years ago before everything became so fancy, I had some Delrin that I milled a series of 1/2" holes into to hold my router bits. For the 1/4" & 3/8" bits (yes 3/8"), I grabbed a piece of 1/2" nylon rod and made a bunch of bushings.

Hey [member=7266]jeffinsgf[/member] with Woodpeckers high speed machining capabilities, these could be cranked out for 3-4 cents each, probably less...certainly cheaper than machining new mold inserts and swapping those out. It could be a quick-fix and may even prove to be a permanent one.  [big grin]

[attachimg=1]

 

[jeffinsgf]

Well many, many, many years ago before everything became so fancy, I had some Delrin that I milled a series of 1/2" holes into to hold my router bits. For the 1/4" & 3/8" bits (yes 3/8"), I grabbed a piece of 1/2" nylon rod and made a bunch of bushings.

Hey [member=7266]jeffinsgf[/member] with Woodpeckers high speed machining capabilities, these could be cranked out for 3-4 cents each...certainly cheaper than machining new mold inserts and swapping those out. It could be a quick-fix and may even prove to be a permanent one.  [big grin]

[attachimg=1]

Passed along to engineering.

On a side note, I would wager that you and I are among a very short list of folks in this community who have any 3/8" shank bits still in possession...and I'm not sure I could lay hands on the 3 or 4 that I have.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

On a side note, I would wager that you and I are among a very short list of folks in this community who have any 3/8" shank bits still in possession...and I'm not sure I could lay hands on the 3 or 4 that I have.

They are not as rare as you would think. We use 3/8 bits on both of the CNC machines. The main machine uses a diamond bit (compression) in a heat-shrink type collet, as the one doing most of the cutting. It cuts cabinet parts at an alarming speed, full depth. The secondary machine has 2 different 3/8" bits. One is a "chip breaker" designed for plywood, the other is a carbide compression, for melamine or laminated sheets. Years ago, that was all done with 1/4" bits, but the 3/8" are far stronger, therefore faster, and longer lasting.
I have always kept one of those Amana adaptors in my toolbox, just to be prepared for anything. Once in a while I would use one of the regrinds that came back from the sharpener in a hand-held router, just because of the reduced diameter from the sharpening.
I have a 1/4" to 1/8" reducer too, just in case. That has largely gone unused since getting the Origin, since I have an actual 1/8" collet for it. (or any of the smaller OF machines)
8mm seems to be a sweet spot for me. In general, I have always preferred 1/2" shanks for all but the smallest bits, but it really is overkill for a lot of them. The smaller Festool routers fill that space for a lot of my routing, in that medium range.

As far as the bit holder? as stated before, I'm on the fence about it. I have quite a few of them from Lee Valley, sitting in the original packaging tube, unused. I may get around to using them someday though.
My home shop will be layed out quite differently than at work. I don't put small things like router bits "out on display" because it's a shared space.

 

[hdv]

CMT has a nice system for storing router bits in a flexible manner. It consists of rings with a fixed outer diameter (22 mm) and a variable inner diameter. There are rings for 1/4", 8mm, 12mm, and 1/2" AFAIK. I use them in my router bit systainers and they work great. Something like that would come close to the idea Cheese posted about. Should be easy to adapt to the blocks Woodpeckers created for their storage system too.

[Edit] Here is their webpage with more info. I see now they have even more sizes available:https://www.cmtorangetools.com/eu-en/systems-and-accessories/organizer

The availability of a 3/8" version underlines what CRG says, apparently such bits are not that rare. I have never encountered them myself though.

 

[HighlandMarine]

We released a couple more 8mm shank bits yesterday...with a particular focus on Shaper Origin. We now make 12mm and 16mm Clearing and Pattern Bits. Both include pattern bearings which are easily removable. For Origin work these are great to clear out pockets for inlays. In a hand-held traditional router they can cut to a template or extend the depth of a pocket.
https://www.woodpeck.com/ultra-shear-carbide-head-clearing-pattern-router-bits.html

Just ordered the set yesterday! Thank you for posting about this, what a great deal! Happy Holidays!

 

[gharel]

Used the 16mm three flute a few days ago, got here just in time for Christmas projects!

I'm using the Origin to make a lake-shaped charcuterie board for a lake house. I needed a bit that had a bigger cutting radius than the bearings on my roundover bits and this fit the bill perfectly. Got some flawless cuts in walnut, no burning and great alignment between the cut and the bearing A+

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Crazyraceguy]

That is some serious tape density there [member=79042]gharel[/member] great looking project.
How did you get the shape of the lake? Shaper Trace over a map?

 

[PaulMarcel]

I'm also curious about the through holes along the perimeter cut. It will likely be obvious when you mention it, but well it is Friday afternoon before a holiday cheers

 

[Crazyraceguy]

CMT has a nice system for storing router bits in a flexible manner. It consists of rings with a fixed outer diameter (22 mm) and a variable inner diameter. There are rings for 1/4", 8mm, 12mm, and 1/2" AFAIK. I use them in my router bit systainers and they work great. Something like that would come close to the idea Cheese posted about. Should be easy to adapt to the blocks Woodpeckers created for their storage system too.

[Edit] Here is their webpage with more info. I see now they have even more sizes available:https://www.cmtorangetools.com/eu-en/systems-and-accessories/organizer

The availability of a 3/8" version underlines what CRG says, apparently such bits are not that rare. I have never encountered them myself though.

I use a foam tray inside a Systainer for most of my bits, well the 1/2" and 1/4" anyway. Some of the 8mm are intended to be Shaper specific, but not all. The others go to the MFK 700, which was my real motivation to even shop for 8mm in the first place, of the OF1010.
I do have an 8mm collet for the Triton router in the table, but have only used it once. Table use is usually bigger bits and 1/2" shanks. So far the 8mm have their own spot in a drawer, or in the Shaper Systainer foam. I do need to add some new spaces there though.
That's why I have never really cared about the storage solutions for the manufacturers.

 

[gharel]

That is some serious tape density there [member=79042]gharel[/member] great looking project.
How did you get the shape of the lake? Shaper Trace over a map?

Thank you! I had to turn the Origin 180° to stay on the small piece of stock and wanted to give myself the best chance possible. I've found I rarely regret the few dollars worth of tape vs. the big headache of losing a scan. And there's less complete Shaper dominos than it seems after they've been torn through by a router bit!

I took a screenshot of Google maps and traced it in Adobe Illustrator to get the shape!

 

[gharel]

I'm also curious about the through holes along the perimeter cut. It will likely be obvious when you mention it, but well it is Friday afternoon before a holiday cheers

I drilled some 1/2" holes after the CNC cut to jigsaw close to the cut and use the top as a pattern. It was faster to trim the rest off with the bearing added back in the OF1400 rather than using Origin the whole time.

The stock is also >16mm so I can't do a finishing pass on Origin which increases the risk of accidentally taking a bite out of something that shouldn't.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I drilled some 1/2" holes after the CNC cut to jigsaw close to the cut and use the top as a pattern. It was faster to trim the rest off with the bearing added back in the OF1400 rather than using Origin the whole time.

The stock is also >16mm so I can't do a finishing pass on Origin which increases the risk of accidentally taking a bite out of something that shouldn't.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

I totally get it that you couldn't cut the piece free while somewhat suspended like that, bad things could happen, though I'm not so sure that "faster" is a thing here? Having to drill the holes and do the jig saw work takes time too and you still have to route around again to trim that off.
I think, in that situation, I would use the Origin all the way around at a little bit of an off-set, down to less than 1/16" (1mm or so). Then do a finishing pass at zero off-set, also at that same depth. As a final pass, I would then go deep enough to cut through, but retract the cutter in some strategic places, move along the line 1/4" or so and replunge to cut-through depth, this will give to "tabs" which keep your piece from breaking loose. When you are done, remove the screws in the outer (scrap) and turn the whole thing over. Cut those tabs with a chisel or razor knife. At that point, all you have to do is chisel/razor/sand any remnants of the tabs away, when your part is free from the scrap.
It take longer to type than I does to do it.
This is a very common technique with CNC router people, which can be built-into their tool-paths....and something I am guessing the Shaper people are working on making more automatic as a future update?
Now that they have demonstrated that the machine is capable of controlling the Z-axis during the cut (Auto-Pass) there is no reason this couldn't be done. It's just whether they consider it valuable enough to pursue.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Just to add a little warning to CRG's method, if you're extending depth beyond the top of the bit using the Origin, remove the bearing. Even though it "theoretically" doesn't interfere, I've found it causes the Origin to behave erratically.

Also, I hope I'm not overstating the obvious, but if you're doing a finish pass on anything more than 16mm thick you have to do it in multiple depth passes...14-15mm per pass. While that sounds obvious, if you're using AutoPass, it won't know the bit is too short and if you're standing there punching the screen it is not part of the typical workflow (at least, not mine).

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Just to add a little warning to CRG's method, if you're extending depth beyond the top of the bit using the Origin, remove the bearing. Even though it "theoretically" doesn't interfere, I've found it causes the Origin to behave erratically.

Also, I hope I'm not overstating the obvious, but if you're doing a finish pass on anything more than 16mm thick you have to do it in multiple depth passes...14-15mm per pass. While that sounds obvious, if you're using AutoPass, it won't know the bit is too short and if you're standing there punching the screen it is not part of the typical workflow (at least, not mine).

Absolutely. I wouldn't even install a bit with a bearing into Origin. I'm sure it would annoy the machine.
Also, yes, I wouldn't do a final finishing pass with a bit that couldn't cut the entire face at one time.
For the method I described above, you can use a far smaller diameter cutter. The margin of error factor for a jig saw path is not needed.

 

[Cheese]

Just to add a little warning to CRG's method, if you're extending depth beyond the top of the bit using the Origin, remove the bearing. Even though it "theoretically" doesn't interfere, I've found it causes the Origin to behave erratically.

I purchased two of the 16 mm cutters, one to be used in the 1010/1400 & maybe 2200 and the other for the Origin. Upon arrival, I immediately removed the collar & bearing from the Origin cutter and stored them with the 16 mm cutter reserved for the 1010 & 1400. If the collar and bearing need to be replaced at some point, the cause for replacement will certainly be generated by the 1010/1400 and not the Origin.

 

[rmwarren]

Bits are getting favorable reviews over on the Shaper forum.
https://community.shapertools.com/t/bit-for-mft-holes-in-the-us/13055/8

RMW