Router smoking

[billozz]

Can I ask what is the cause of the wood smoking when using a router.
Thanks
Bill

 

[Notch7]

Blunt cutter
Too slow feed speed
Wrong rpm
trying use a non plunge cutter for bottom cutting

 

[big-all]

deep cuts need several passes around half the shank in depth
say 44mm deep with a say half inch router would be around 6mm passes so 7 passes at 6.5mm or at a push 6 at 7.5mm deep
experiance will let you know iff 5 passes off 9mm are daft

 

[foxhole]

Has blade changed colour, blackens if blade is blunt.

 

[billozz]

Blunt cutter
Too slow feed speed
Wrong rpm
trying use a non plunge cutter for bottom cutting

Thanks for the reply
Is there anyway to tell if the cutter is blunt, I've hardly used it but have had it fir a while, I assumed(wrongly obviously) that feeding too fast would cause the smoking, the router only had one speed, I'm not plunging with it.

 

[billozz]

Has blade changed colour, blackens if blade is blunt.

Thanks for the reply
I'll have to have a look

 

[Deleted member 174758]

It's also worth cleaning your cutter. This is a bearing guided cutter which has been used - it isn't smoking, but you can see signs of resin (from the MDF) build-up on the cutter which is making it blunter and more likely to smoke:

A scorched blade will be dark brown to black and may be beyond redemption, however. Even a basic quick partial clean with squirt of WD40 and a quick scrub up with an old tooth brush cleans it up enough to get another few cuts done before it needs to be thoroughly cleaned:

Is there anyway to tell if the cutter is blunt

The cutter should be sharp enough to be able to scrape some of your thumb nail away easily. The carbide faces shoud be clean.

Ciould you describe the cut you are doing (style of cutter - e.g straight or profiled, depth, width, material being cut, cuter material type - HSS or TCT) together with the router (watts) so that someone could give you better advice?

 

[opps]

Thanks for the reply
Is there anyway to tell if the cutter is blunt, I've hardly used it but have had it fir a while, I assumed(wrongly obviously) that feeding too fast would cause the smoking, the router only had one speed, I'm not plunging with it.

If you feed too slowly the cutter spends too long in contact with the wood that is eventually "burning", hence the resin build up.

I must admit that I often suffer from pushing tools too slowly. In my case it is a lack of experience.

 

[conny]

Is the OP actually talking about the cutter smoking or the router itself?
He hasn't made it clear. My original thought was the machine was smoking.

 

[big-all]

"Can I ask what is the cause of the wood smoking"
Suggests wood to cutter interaction to me rather than machine ??

 

[conny]

"Can I ask what is the cause of the wood smoking"
Suggests wood to cutter interaction to me rather than machine ??

My bad, (as the youngsters say), the title said Router smoking. I obviously misread the actual question.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Good job you didn't suggest nicotine patches, then

 

[conny]

 

[Mike13]

Its ok as long as it doesn't inhale!!