Fluted Router Bit

[clay carr]

can anyone recommend a bit to cut the following trim located at this link?


http://www.door-window-moulding.com/NWM2005Cat/NWM2005pdf/NWMoulding0705-01.pdf

any tips and tricks in doing so?

[Jim DeLaney]

The flutes are cut using a 'core box' (round nosed) bit. If you want the ends more tapered (what's called a Lamb's Tongue), you cut that afterward with a carving knife/gouge.

The rosettes are cut using a drill press with a (what else?) rosette cutter.

Nearly every bit manufacturer has the core box bits. Most will also have the rosette cutters.

[JayStPeter]

You can also run your router up a "ramp" at the end of the cut to get a sort of oval shaped taper. Might not be exactly the same as the "lambs toungue" in the pics, but close. The ramp is simply a wide shim clamped to the piece that lifts your router bit from the work as you run it along. It takes some trial and error to get the end looking the way you want.

[Terry Flowers]

Are you talking about the corner rosette, or the straight fluting, or both?

I have normally seen rosettes cuto on a drill press, using a specialty bit available from various suppliers, usually the same ones that supply router bits. I am sure there are other methods.

The flutes are usually cut one at a time with a core box bit, also available from many router bit suppliers, using an edge guide and stops, or preferably a dedicated jig.

You didn't say if you need to do this on a large production basis or just a small project. If it is the former, I can't suggest anything else.

Sorry I can't be specific right now about sources. The fluting bit is available almost anywhere. For the rosette, I would check the usual sources, MLCS, Freud, Woodline, etc. I am sure someone will know a definite source.

Terry

[Kris Koenig]

ShopNotes had a simple jig in Issue 89 for making the flutes, even the tapered ends. It basically consisted of an acrylic base with a series of dividers. The dividers were the same size as the distance between flute centers, and each time you cut a flute, you moved one to the other side. For the tapers there was a ramp that you could clamp to the end of the piece for the router sled to ride up.

Kris

[Dave Richards]

You could also cut the rosettes with a router and one of these: http://legacywoodworking.com/products.cfm?product=116 and the accessory rotary table. In fact you could do rosettes with it that would be impossible on a drill press.

You could cut the flutes on a longer version of the Legacy mill, too.