Oh good.....I'm glad you found a source for them. Should prevent your small stuff from lifting, too.
There is a spray called Dri-Cote or something like that that comes in a blue can that is amazingly effective at reducing bit wear due to heat. It helps the dust/chips to not stick to the bit. I thought it might be a bogus claim, but changed my tune real quick after using it. It's been such a long time that I had forgotten about it. When using it on a table saw blade, the blade will produce small chips instead of dust....like its supposed to do. I got a lot more life and cleaner cuts for much longer on the little diamond bits I was using on graphite. I can't believe I forgot about that stuff. I used to see Rockler carrying it. Haven't seen a Rockler catalog for a few years, though.
Yeah, not a single part lifted. I'll have to look for the dri-cote stuff. How long can you expect a 1/16 bit to stay sharp cutting balsa? I figured some of the issues before were probably due to the old bit being dull.
I also bought a 1/2 precision collet like the 1/4 and 1/8 I already have. And have a new 1/2 on the way for resurfacing since the old one was a harbor freight bit and is in pretty bad shape.
I really don't know what to expect for bit life in balsa. I have a good quality 1/16 2 flute that I have been using at work for a long time and it still cuts nicely. I don't suppose thin balsa is going to generate a whole lot of heat.....and its heat that destroys bits. More wear will be had in the dwell time between a z depth move and the beginning of a x or y move than the cutter will see if its doing work. Most decent woodworking programs employ ramping lead in/out to keep from burning the cutters and the work during the engage/disengage. I would ruin a 1/2 3 flute in only a few straight z plunges on the machine at work if I didn't ramp in.....it would seriously start a fire in 3/4 MDF in the short dwell that it took to start moving in either x or y. A 1/2 3 flute needs to move at about 900 ipm at 18000 rpm to keep each flute engaged in material (MDF).
I can't imagine a small bit in balsa that isn't buried too deep would make that much of a problem. ?????? I don't know. I would run the router at the slowest rpm possible that still makes nice cuts, though.
