aldav
6th May 2015, 11:04 PM
Evanism has posted a review in his blog -
Upcut carbide 1/2" bit Rate this Entry
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by Evanism (http://www.woodworkforums.com/member.php?u=82763)
, 6th May 2015 at 06:38 PM (1 Views)
First and last impressions: 5 out of 5. BUY IT. Excellent price and excellent finish.
Today I used the solid carbide 2 flute upcut router bit from ALDAV for the purposes of review and actual work. These are sold on the WoodWorkersForum.com and Ebay trading as Aldavs_store: http://stores.ebay.com.au/Aldavs-Store .
Traditionally upcut and downcut cutters are rather specialised. For the handyman they are a very expensive luxury. For low cost operations or a small shop they are aren't a necessity - work can be achieved with straight cutters (carbide or HSS). Good quality straight cut bits are still quite expensive. Professional shops or small volume high quality craftsmen will buy a spiral carbide cutter due to their absolutely superior finish. The above facts are a given - very few craftsmen would question them.
For background, I make a very wide range of children's furniture commercially as well as high end (read: expensive) decorative boxes. I'm a commission craftsman with a wide remit. The workshop is fully stocked with high end, premium quality equipment, tools and accessories and it all gets a good flogging daily. Think great care: but fully used - they are not toys or show-ponies. They are tools for income.
This cutter was offered by ALDAV to trial. We were talking on the WWF about the qualities of carbide cutters and how getting a HIGH quality, decently priced spiral cutters that lasted was nearly impossible. It is very easy to spend $350 or $400 on a professional one. He offered me the trial of his newest model to trial in a commercial environment and offer an honest review.
Today I mounted the cutter in a Triton TRA001 router fitted to a Kreg lifter plate. I also have a Festool and BenchCrafted lifter, but the Triton is my go-to workhorse. It typically runs 15 to 20,000 rpm and fitted to a fully boxed dust extractor. Today I made boxes. Lots of boxes. They were made on commission for an international sports company to give to an international team for medals for a major world-wide event (I cannot disclose who yet). The quality of work needed to be *extremely* high. Fine boxes invite very close scrutiny - mistakes have nowhere to hide. Errors would cost a great deal - timbers were Qld Blackwood, WA Lace sheoak and birdseye maple highlights. Each is a nightmare. Blackwood loves to chip, rip out and burns deeply faster than unwatched toast when cut. Lace sheoak is eye wateringly expensive and birdseye maple shows Every Single Trivial Mistake.
I took a big risk to use this cutter on a job like this, which had been sitting in the selector for 4 weeks, but this was exactly the reason it was purchased for. I needed a first-rate ultra clean cut for mortising, ultra fine jointing and fine edge finishing. The bit did exactly what I wanted, first time, right through the entire job. Lid and base mortising were clean and sharp, edging/jointing was very sharp (I use an Incra Wonder Fence as a micro-edge jointer for box work) and the finger box joint edging cleaned up perfectly.
The upcut performed flawlessly. The cuts were ultra smooth, very crisp and clean on both top cuts and edge cuts. It was used a lot and remained as sharp as when delivered. Two thumbs up. I decided to use my existing bits as a test on a some off-cut scraps of the Blackwood to see if the upcut was indeed working better or if it was my imagination. It wasn't my imagination. The existing straight carbide bits left either bottom fuzz (an expensive almost new one), chipped (my "old trusty") or burned (both did, here and there, but far worse when moved slowly). They both would have left me with a lot of cleanup work - and if you've friction burned blackwood, you'll know how deep it goes - a bastard thing to happen on a finely crafted box.
This upcut is also noticeably quieter in operation. I hate excessive noise in the shop. A very well designed spiral upcut sounds smooth and operates vibration free during the cut. This one has these qualities.
The bit itself is remarkably nice. It is really sharp out of the pack (unusual for carbide - HSS is normally a lot sharper on the "thumb test"), it is well polished with no manufacturing errors, the carbide is fine and visually it looks very nice. It comes delivered capped and encased in a pop-click enclosure.
So, all up, I would highly recommend its purchase. It is an excellent tool and priced very well - low enough for the home woodworker looking for an excellent finish. I would also VERY highly recommend it for the pro woodworker too http://d1r5wj36adg1sk.cloudfront.net/images/smilies/smile.gif "
Any of you who know Evan know the value you can place on his opinion. I can tell you how good these are as many times as I like, but nobody listens, so it's good to have an independent opinion that confirms my own. :D Fell free to PM me if you have any queries.
Cheers,
David
Upcut carbide 1/2" bit Rate this Entry
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by Evanism (http://www.woodworkforums.com/member.php?u=82763)
, 6th May 2015 at 06:38 PM (1 Views)
First and last impressions: 5 out of 5. BUY IT. Excellent price and excellent finish.
Today I used the solid carbide 2 flute upcut router bit from ALDAV for the purposes of review and actual work. These are sold on the WoodWorkersForum.com and Ebay trading as Aldavs_store: http://stores.ebay.com.au/Aldavs-Store .
Traditionally upcut and downcut cutters are rather specialised. For the handyman they are a very expensive luxury. For low cost operations or a small shop they are aren't a necessity - work can be achieved with straight cutters (carbide or HSS). Good quality straight cut bits are still quite expensive. Professional shops or small volume high quality craftsmen will buy a spiral carbide cutter due to their absolutely superior finish. The above facts are a given - very few craftsmen would question them.
For background, I make a very wide range of children's furniture commercially as well as high end (read: expensive) decorative boxes. I'm a commission craftsman with a wide remit. The workshop is fully stocked with high end, premium quality equipment, tools and accessories and it all gets a good flogging daily. Think great care: but fully used - they are not toys or show-ponies. They are tools for income.
This cutter was offered by ALDAV to trial. We were talking on the WWF about the qualities of carbide cutters and how getting a HIGH quality, decently priced spiral cutters that lasted was nearly impossible. It is very easy to spend $350 or $400 on a professional one. He offered me the trial of his newest model to trial in a commercial environment and offer an honest review.
Today I mounted the cutter in a Triton TRA001 router fitted to a Kreg lifter plate. I also have a Festool and BenchCrafted lifter, but the Triton is my go-to workhorse. It typically runs 15 to 20,000 rpm and fitted to a fully boxed dust extractor. Today I made boxes. Lots of boxes. They were made on commission for an international sports company to give to an international team for medals for a major world-wide event (I cannot disclose who yet). The quality of work needed to be *extremely* high. Fine boxes invite very close scrutiny - mistakes have nowhere to hide. Errors would cost a great deal - timbers were Qld Blackwood, WA Lace sheoak and birdseye maple highlights. Each is a nightmare. Blackwood loves to chip, rip out and burns deeply faster than unwatched toast when cut. Lace sheoak is eye wateringly expensive and birdseye maple shows Every Single Trivial Mistake.
I took a big risk to use this cutter on a job like this, which had been sitting in the selector for 4 weeks, but this was exactly the reason it was purchased for. I needed a first-rate ultra clean cut for mortising, ultra fine jointing and fine edge finishing. The bit did exactly what I wanted, first time, right through the entire job. Lid and base mortising were clean and sharp, edging/jointing was very sharp (I use an Incra Wonder Fence as a micro-edge jointer for box work) and the finger box joint edging cleaned up perfectly.
The upcut performed flawlessly. The cuts were ultra smooth, very crisp and clean on both top cuts and edge cuts. It was used a lot and remained as sharp as when delivered. Two thumbs up. I decided to use my existing bits as a test on a some off-cut scraps of the Blackwood to see if the upcut was indeed working better or if it was my imagination. It wasn't my imagination. The existing straight carbide bits left either bottom fuzz (an expensive almost new one), chipped (my "old trusty") or burned (both did, here and there, but far worse when moved slowly). They both would have left me with a lot of cleanup work - and if you've friction burned blackwood, you'll know how deep it goes - a bastard thing to happen on a finely crafted box.
This upcut is also noticeably quieter in operation. I hate excessive noise in the shop. A very well designed spiral upcut sounds smooth and operates vibration free during the cut. This one has these qualities.
The bit itself is remarkably nice. It is really sharp out of the pack (unusual for carbide - HSS is normally a lot sharper on the "thumb test"), it is well polished with no manufacturing errors, the carbide is fine and visually it looks very nice. It comes delivered capped and encased in a pop-click enclosure.
So, all up, I would highly recommend its purchase. It is an excellent tool and priced very well - low enough for the home woodworker looking for an excellent finish. I would also VERY highly recommend it for the pro woodworker too http://d1r5wj36adg1sk.cloudfront.net/images/smilies/smile.gif "
Any of you who know Evan know the value you can place on his opinion. I can tell you how good these are as many times as I like, but nobody listens, so it's good to have an independent opinion that confirms my own. :D Fell free to PM me if you have any queries.
Cheers,
David