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Had no breakage problems others have wrote of in their reviews. This bit works well with the Jasper Circle Jig's for speaker building projects. Does a nice job of routing recessed mounting surfaces and hole cutouts for woofers, tweeters and port tubes. Like the other Freud Router Bits I have a darn nice product. Good clean cuts.
The one that it replaced I have been using for at least 3 years and although it still works it is to dull for fine work. This is the first bad bit I have ever gotten from Freud, generally I consider them among the best. But this one broke after on two uses. I was very disappointed in this bit but since I bought it mail order it cost more to send it back then it was worth. Lesson buy from local shops on things like this.
:)These spiral bits are great for mortising or general plunge or dado/rebate cutting. Why not. Because if you do, you will end up buying more of them. Produce a cleaner edge than regular staright flute bits and with better debris removal. Usual high quality freud bit.
The fit was snug. It turned out perfect. So the same rule applies to the 1/2" spiral bit, with the 1/2 shaft, and it gives you an even longer shaft, which enables you to make deeper mortises. Using a plunge router, and the Freud 1/4" diameter flute up spiral bit with the 1/4" shank, I plunged and routed out the mortise in successively deeper plunges.
The 1/4" enables you to use smaller templates. In 3 passes, I had made a perfect 1 1/2" mortise. Even the walls of the mortise gave no clue as to where the first pass was. Being new to making mortise and tenon joinery, I gave it a shot using this bit. It is easy to control, whereas it doesn't give you the "catch and pull" of a standard bit. On the other hand, if you had a 1/4" bit, with a 1/2" shaft, you could only plunge to the depth of the bit head.
Get both. They both remove a lot of material very quickly.
The sharp tips and convoluted design contribute to that. I made up a template out of 1/4" plywood, that was precisely oversized to allow for the distance from the outside of the collar to the edge of the bit.
Of course this bit is ideal for making lock mortises as well. The advantage to having the spiral bit the same size as the shaft, is that you can plunge deeper.
Since the shaft is the same size, you can go as deep as the length of the bit allows. Anything that requires a perfectly flat and smooth bottom and walls.
Hope this was helpful.
I have been using the second bit on my LEIGH dovetail jig and it is still as sharp as the first time I used it. I bought two 75-102 bits and the first one broke on my second use. It felt like a factory defect because I wasn't even exerting pressure. I have made more than 20 boxes with them. They are very good bits.
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