# Close call



## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

I was routing material from the middle of a serving tray I'm making for a birthday present. Using a 1/2" bit and advancing my "fence" about 7/16" per pass was too much for the bit, I was using my 3.5hp Milwaukee so it never really bogged down, giving me no warning the bit was being overworked. After a few passes the bit spit out a few chips that were smoldering, I never saw them as they were immediately until I sucked up the chips with the dust collector. More than a little worrying was seeing an ember fly into the hose then make a few fast laps around the inside of the transparent plastic collection bag. I have witnessed a sawdust fire once before and have no desire to do so again so the bag was immediately emptied into my fire pit (in case it did try to ignite) and the filter bag cleaned and inspected.

I'm still trying to figure out how this could have happened, the only thing I can think of that would be a major contributing factor was the HSS spiral up cut bit being a little dull. My feed rate was good for the spalted maple, and the cut quality was good as well. After this happened I unplugged the router and touched the bit which really wasn't that hot, contrary to what I expected.


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## recycle1943 (Dec 16, 2013)

First let me say "congrats on the fast action" 
Second let me say w/o offending - gather all your hss router bits and throw them in the trash.
Third let me say that Hartville hardware is having their fall sale next weekend and virtually all of their tools are 20% off. That includes their Whiteside router bits. I believe they have a nearly full compliment of Whiteside bits and you can bet your bippy that I'm going to be replacing and increasing my Whiteside bit collection.
I would be happy to pick up a few for you - you can price them on line and subtract 20% plus tax


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

Quick thinking for sure. Glad it wasn't any worse.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

You're not offending me, I think I may have two or three HSS bits total and while this one is clearly at the end of its life, I figured I could get one more quick job out of it. I'll have to assess what I need and I might take you up on that offer.


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## Case101 (Jun 29, 2013)

Using a 1/2" bit and advancing 7/16" seems like a lot??


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

Maybe too deep of pass in combo with old bit. A router bit is designed to hog out its width with no problem but not necessarily good at hogging out much depth. Just a thought.

Good catch for sure though.


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## InstantSiv (Jan 12, 2014)

Maybe it was the bit that caused the ember? A piece of metal broke/scraped off like flint and steel.


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## tcarswell (Nov 4, 2014)

I had this happen but the pieces were caught in a half full 35 gallon cyclone bucket. I'm ashamed to say I was using a up cut spiral hss harbor freight router bit believe me the three piece set is in the garbage. Now I only use freud or whiteside.


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## Fettler (Dec 6, 2012)

So was the cinder a piece of the HSS flying off or wood material? Sounds like there was a lot of friction. Was the bit dull or tar'd up (i.e. not clean)? I use a bit cleaner spray that applies a friction reducing coating but that doesn't do much for dull bits.


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## Case101 (Jun 29, 2013)

> So was the cinder a piece of the HSS flying off or wood material? Sounds like there was a lot of friction. Was the bit dull or tar d up (i.e. not clean)? I use a bit cleaner spray that applies a friction reducing coating but that doesn t do much for dull bits.
> 
> - Fettler


What spray do you use?


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

The bit was clean, it is of good quality (for a HSS bit, i.e. not harbor freight), it had very little if any build up. Though it wasn't sharp, it wasn't completely gone. The bit didn't fragment, just generated an ember from the wood being cut. It may have momentarily clogged, just long enough to generate heat to create a hot ember then after immediately unclogging, cover it with more chips.


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## verdesardog (Apr 2, 2011)

Being a primitive fire maker I can tell you that an ember can form with as low as 200 degree F temperatures.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

I know embers can form at seemingly low temperatures, my primary concern was the flash point (or worse) of the air dust mixture spinning inside the collection bag and knowing how quickly it could explode given the right conditions.


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## recycle1943 (Dec 16, 2013)

> You re not offending me, I think I may have two or three HSS bits total and while this one is clearly at the end of its life, I figured I could get one more quick job out of it. I ll have to assess what I need and I might take you up on that offer.
> 
> - bigblockyeti


I just fund the flyer for the Hartville sale - it's November 21 & 22


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

Yeti, do you ever clean your bits and saw blades? There's an invisible film that builds on blades and cutting heads from many of the hard woods we use create, I'm not saying this is your problem but the residue build up does cause wood burning and or scorching,

Cleaning cutting blades and bits
Take your blades and bits place them in the sun on top of news paper once they reach an 150 degrees spray them with oven cleaner that contains sodium hydroxide, allow the cleaner to work bubbling the residue off then wipe the the clean everywhere making sure you have the blade/ bit cleaned then finish up with the water hose then once again make sure it's dried very well.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

I clean everything used for cutting pretty regularly with BOSTIK bladecote. This bit was dull, but clean when I started using it for this project.


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## bowedcurly (Aug 31, 2013)

can you use a dish cutter and router seems like it would be much easier, and run cooler. hope you get things worked out.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

I could, but I was looking for a large radius where the bottom met the sides and no one make a flat bottomed cutter with a radius as large as I was looking for. I had to switch to the cylindrical bit to get the bottom flat as the cove bit I used for the perimeter was a 1" radius and would have left too much at the bottom to be sanded out to get it flat, even if only advancing a little at a time.


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