Router Bit Technology

When you're purchasing router bits for your shop, it's really important that you know about technology called insert tooling, and consider it as an option for your router bit purchases. Now, first, let's have a look at this cutter, this is a router bit that everybody will recognize, it's a very simple three eights round over. Now, compare it to the cutter next to it. This is the cutter that's made with insert tooling, that's the one I want to show you here. An insert tooling, I've already got this nut on top loose, so I can take this apart. The way it works, is that, the carbide wings have not been braised to the body of the cutter, they're actually separate. So, at any time, I can take things apart, and I can remove the carbide. Now, this brings a couple of things to the table. One is, when this gets dull, I don't send this bit out to be sharpened, I simply replace the wings. So, if I've got substitute wings in my inventory, I'm never without by bit, I have no downtime, where the cutter is out of my shop. The other thing is that, because the carbide is not actually being braised to the body of the bit, a different type of carbide, than what was used on the first bit, can be used, and because of that, some manufacturers claim that the life of the insert tooling carbide is about 10 times what it is on carbide that is braised to the body of the bit. So, we get a lot more cutter life, out of the insert carbide, than we do the braised carbide. The other thing that we get out of this, is, let me put everything back together here for this next part. Recognize that, when I get a bit sharpened, some material comes off the carbide, and that changes it's relative alignment to the ball bearing. Now, that can be a real big deal on profile cutters, like this one. It can also be a big deal on flush trim bits, where, as I take material off the cutter, it no longer aligns with the bearing, which means I'm not flush trimming any more, I'm kind of flush trimming plus a little bit. With insert tooling, because I'm simply going to put fresh wings in here, I'm always going to have the alignment I started with, between the carbide and the bearing. The other thing that's cool with this is, when I got this one, I basically bought the body of the bit, once, into which I can change and put in other wings. So, this is a chamfer wing I can put in this, and I can do those changes, in order to get more mileage out of this one body. So, here's the way this shakes out. Your initial investment with insert tooling is going to be higher, than it would be with a conventional router bit, but, the payoff comes in, longevity of carbide, ease of changes, from dull to sharp, multiple profiles being able to run in that single body. This has been used in industrial applications for a long, long, long time, and it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger footprint, within the consumer-level marketplace as well. It's a very important thing to consider, when you're buying router bits, for your shop.