Makita Router set on (1)
T-Nuts 1/4" 20
Made the test set to bottom left on design.
Outer Diameter .69 with a depth of .092
The inner was .25 with a depth .76 Exact measure.
Placed the test board in the center of my Onefinity Woodworker
Homed the machine and then moved it to the bottom left of the test board.
Zeroed out the xy and set the Z to the top of the test board and zeroed out that.
Have to things on this test. The bit smoked big time for just ONE hole so I either had the feed/plunge set to high or the router need to be set faster.
Another thing, When making the dia cuts I centered them and it went to the center of the board but perfectly aligned and then linked the two since I would be using the same bit. I grabed both and brought them to the bottom left and saved the file. That part didn’t work as it cut to the center.
I’ve only had this 3 days and all works great. I know there are guys/gals out there that know exactly what I need to do. Thanks in advance. Love my machine
Dan, smoking is generally because the bit is “rubbing” a hole in the test board rather than cutting. If you set too slow of speed it will definitely rub, also depends on the board type (species) and the bit’s geometry. Some bits are not capable of cutting on the plunge as they have no cutting edge on the bottom surface, so you may be forcing it down rather than have a bottom cutter. Using a “ramp” on the plunge is also a good idea to avoid smoking it in. Straight cutters instead of spiral bits are also problematic unless ramped in. Also MDF is a composite and has no grain like pine or oak would have, so it doesn’t remove chips really just dust. The feed rate can also be too slow and causing the smoking. In general, if the hole you described takes longer than say about 3 seconds to cut, it will likely smoke, so try faster speeds on plunge and cut, not necessarily router RPM, but I’d probably move that up to 3 on the Makita.
That is very helpful. Thanks. I’m making mistakes on test cuts getting ready to carve something.
Dan - you didn’t mention what bit size and type you used. Boring a 0.25" diameter hole with a 0.25" straight cut bit or a down cut bit won’t clear the chips and as Jim mentioned many straight fluted bits won’t have a cutting edge on the bottom of the bit so they are not well suited for plunging straight down. You may want to try boring the hole with a 0.125" spiral up cut bit if you haven’t already. I received my Onefinity last week as well and used the 0.125" up cut bit for the T-nut holes in my waste board with a 0.1" feed per revolution at 40 inch per minute plunge rate with no smoking or issues.
Thanks for your reply. I made some mistakes with what I said earlier. The bit I used is a SpeTool Spiral Router Bits Down Cut 1/4 inch Cutting Diameter, 1/4 inch Shank Solid Carbide.And I had the 1F to cut the hole .25… lol Well wasn’t thinking or just in a hurry with the new
1F. So I’m in hopes someone can tell me how close I am to cutting the holes the right size.
The MDF is a 3/4" and it measures .763 thick. Anything less and it doesn’t cut through.
The large Dia I have set to go at .69 with a depth of .095
Depth Per Pass .125
Stepover .1
Speed 3 on Makita
Feed Rate 70/Min
Plunge 30/Min
The small Dia is .312 with a depth of .763
Same on both holes.for feeds and speed.
I thought my bench was VERY VERY level but found out it had dips in it.
So going to Bangor, Maine today to Lowes and get a 1/2 sheet of 3/4" maple to set the four corners on
and make sure the low spots are leveled off a bit. Will check in a few hours to see if anyone
has anything else to say and will cut the MDF tomorrow. Long story but when I tried to cut the
holes out it started out good but only cut about 1/2 of the large Dia holes so I stopped. I had someone
tell me I could have surfaced the board before I cut the T-Nut holes but looking at the cut as it was
going over and over the board there were 1/8" between the end of the bit and the board. Maybe not that
much but enough so it wasn’t cutting some places but did good on others. Well thanks for listening
still am happy with the 1F…
I used a 1/4" endmill for the “relief” holes (where the flat part of the tnut gets recessed" and 1/8" upcut using a spiral drilling operation for the thru holes. The spiral operation is the way to go.