Everything You Need to Know About CNC Carving Router Bits

Router bits are crucial cutting tools in the woodworking process. For convenience, CNC (Computer Numerical Control) arises at a responsible time, which makes them automated. CNC carving router bit is one of the most common products of CNC cutting tools, playing an important role in precision machining.

So, what CNC carving router bit is, how to use it in woodworking, and how to choose a compatible one for your CNC, are three main questions we will discuss in this post. Just keep reading to find the answer you want.

What is a CNC Carving Router Bit?

CNC carving router bits are made of Tungsten Carbide or other durable materials with different shapes, sizes, and cutting angles. Compared to handled carving router bits, CNC carving router bits can fit in the router to achieve modern machining requirements of high precision, high rotational speed, and high efficiency. Usually, they are used to engrave, cut, mill, and other machining operations on materials.

Advantages & Disadvantages of CNC Carving Router Bit

Everything has two coins, and the CNC carving router bit is no exception. Here, we list the advantages and disadvantages of CNC carving router bits.

Features of CNC Carving Router Bit

High Precision: CNC carving router bit can accomplish fine cutting and engraving work on different kinds of material, like wood, plastic, acrylic, metal, etc. With its high precision and high rotational speed, it can make complicated pictures, words, and fine relief. Due to its tiny cutting errors, it can ensure the dimensional accuracy and surface quality of the engraved work.

High Efficiency: It can remove material quickly and efficiently. Due to this, you can select different types of CNC router carving bits to meet the different woodworking requirements. For example, if you want to remove the amount of material, you need to choose large angle roughing tools; on the contrary, you need to choose finishing tools to get a smooth surface of the material.

High Durability: Because of the specificity of the material used to make CNC carving router bits, they will be much more durable than the traditional carving router bits made of high-speed steel or other common material.

Cons of CNC Carving Router Bit

1. It's not friendly to a beginner in woodworking. You need to have some professional woodworking knowledge, and then you can try to learn how to use it.
2. The cost of using the CNC carving router bits will be much higher than that of traditional carving router bits. The prerequisite for using it is that you have to own a CNC router first.
3. High risk of using. As a result of its high-speed rotation, it will be much more dangerous than the handed carving router bit.

Types of CNC Carving Router Bit

For the sake of meeting different requirements, there are diverse types of CNC router carving bits and you can choose the most compatible one to accomplish special engraving results.

• 45 Degree Joinery Router Bit: The blade is angled at 45 degrees horizontal. This bit is commonly used for creating table edges.
• Round Nose Router Bit: With 1/4 radiu blades, it is an ideal bit for rounding off the corners.
• V Groove Router Bit: It is designed to create special V grooves. Small-sized V grooves are also commonly used for engraving text and graphics.
• Straight Router Bit: Ideal for making vertical grooves and holes.
• Flush Trim Router Bit: Working on the outer edge of the workpiece to improve the surface finish.
• Round Bottom Router Bit: Groove an arc slot or a semi-circular shallow hole.
• Bottom Cleaning Router Bit: Remove unevenness on the material surface or at the bottom of the straight slot.
• Open-end Carving Router Bit: Slot a groove with a flat bottom and arc sides.
• Charp Carving Router Bit: Slot a groove with a sharp bottom and arc sides.
• Finger Grip Router Bit: Process the groove of cabinet doors or drawer pulls.
• ...

How to Use CNC Carving Router Bit Correctly?

For safety reasons, follow the steps to use your CNC carving router bits correctly to achieve perfect woodworking results.

1. Installation: Make sure the CNC is off before installation. Choose a compatible CNC router carving bit according to the type and size of your machine and install the bit firmly in the chuck. When installing, pay attention to putting the bit in the right place to avoid the bit falling during the high-speed working process.
2. Parameters: Before using CNC, set the appropriate parameters according to bit sizes, material types, and machining requirements, including cutting speed, tool path feed rate, machining depth, etc. Inappropriate parameters may accelerate bit wear, leading to substandard woodworking quality. Seriously, it may damage the bit and the CNC.
3. Process: During the process, fix the material on the worktable and use the vacuum cleaner to suck away the wood chips timely, which will enhance the working efficiency and improve the service life of your tools. In addition, carefully observe the working status of the tools. Once any abnormality appears, stop the CNC and check the parameter immediately.
4. Maintenance: It's necessary to check the tool's wear regularly in case of excessive wear. At that time, replace it with a new one. Clean the chuck and tool mounting parts to ensure mounting accuracy.

How to Choose A Compatible CNC Carving Router Bit?

After reading the above text, you may want to choose a CNC carving router bit and cannot wait to try it on your CNC. But here comes the question of how to select a compatible one. According to different woodworking requirements, we list some ways from different aspects below for you.

Selected Accoring to Different Working Materials

• Wood: For ordinary wood, smooth chip removal is the priority, keeping the wear from poor chip removal; for hardwood, choose a router bit with a greater angle to enhance the working efficiency.
• Metal: When working on metal, the hardness of the material should be taken into consideration. With soft metal, reduce the cutting edges to avoid the material sticking to the bit; with hard metal, increase the cutting edges to reduce the cutting task with a single cutting edge.
• Plastic: When working on plastic materials, like acrylic, PVC, etc., it's much better to use the single-edge router bit, which can achieve smooth chip removal, a light and fast working process, and a good cross-section effect.

Selected According to the Processing

• Carving: The choice of blade angle is the most important. If you need to fine engraving, the blade angle should be as tiny as possible.
• Cutting: A straight router bit is more fit for vertical cutting to be efficient in chip removal, and a tiny diameter router bit is more fit for arc cutting for better flexibility.
• Milling: For plane milling, a router bit with a large cutting edge can enhance the processing efficiency; for groove milling, an appropriate T-type router bit corresponding to the width and depth is much better.

FindBuyTool offers various industrial-grade CNC carving router bits, including TCT straight bit, TCT spiral bit, TCT downcut & upcut straight bit, and TCT core box/round nose bit. The combination of micro-grain carbide and top-quality steel body makes them durable. As a result of the special making material, our TCT router bits are ideal for professional woodworking tasks and can work on kinds of material to meet carving, cutting, milling, and other woodworking requirements.

Read more: 

6 Common Types of Router Bits Every DIYer Should Own

12 Essential Router Bit Profiles Every Woodworker Should Know