Quote:
mrstampe wrote:
#1 Spiral Upcut bit -- Best choice for this application for two reasons. As you noted, cut wood particles are ejected out of a dado recess (eg. recess for driver mounting lip) to avoid clogging . Also, it's designed to shave the wood as it cuts your form rather than cutting/chipping -- this is more important when duplicated hardwood forms from template, but never a bad idea. The finished surface tends to be smoother than when cut with choice #2.
#2 Plunge cutting straight bit -- Not a bad second choice if you're working with MDF or softer woods. This one is a rare bird, though. Most straight bits do not have the extra cutters on their ends to plunge. (MLCS comes through again) A standard straight bit will NOT work. The negatives are that it cuts/chips rather than shaves, and it does not direct debris out of the way.
#3 Spiral Downcut bit -- While it may be easier to control plunge speed through hardwood with the downcut (b/c the cutting edge opposes your downward plunge force, instead of self-feeding like the upcut), it can get choked on all the shavings that that are directing into your plunge hole. Okay for shallow routing, but not for deep plunging.
Hope that helps.
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Thanks for the reply and detailed explanations! Before posting my question here, I had e-mailed MLCS with basically the same question. Their response was to use the spiral downcut -- however, based on your response, I don't think they took into account the "lip" required to flush mount the speaker.
I do have a follow up q for you if you have the time -- when you use the spiral upcut, do you have to drill a starter hole to the required depth first? Or can you plunge down adequately with the spiral upcut bit? Also, what size bit do you use?
Oh, and I'm an MDF guy if that changes any of your answers.
Thanks for the info and I can't WAIT to see how your project progresses.
JCD