A cutter is a metal device that looks like a disk with a serrated edge. It is intended for processing wooden, metal, and plastic surfaces. There are often situations in life when this tool is needed for a circular saw, but there is no suitable option at hand. In this case, a homemade wood cutter can help. Made to the required dimensions, it will solve the problem and take its rightful place among the main sawing attributes.

Self-made samples usually do not have bearings; additional equipment is required for their full use. Milling cutters of a different order have similar elements; they can be classified as professional devices. Making a cutting tool yourself is not at all easy: for this purpose, the material, appropriate equipment are carefully selected, and manufacturing technology is studied.

The Dovetail wood cutter is one of the most common types of tools actively used in furniture production. Such devices are distinguished by a special shape, which allows you to quickly cut holes, combine tenons, and make slats. The combinations obtained as a result of using such a tool are distinguished by accuracy, ergonomics and ease of assembly.

Depending on the application, cutters can be mounted or end-mounted. The first option is strengthened by the spindle of the device, the second has a tail section that allows you to fix the product in the chucks of machine tools or manual milling machines. Terminal varieties are the most common. They are made of high-quality steel, and the cutting part is often alloyed.

Necessary attributes for work

To make such a saw for wood, you should prepare a number of devices in advance:

• electric sharpener;
• cutting wheel 4 mm thick;
• whetstone;
• core;
• drill;
• drill with a carbide tip;
• semicircular diamond file.

Using a cutting circle, a disk with a diameter of 78 mm is cut out of the cutter blade. This action cannot be performed once, so it should be divided into several stages. Thus, an uneven polygon should gradually acquire the configuration of a circle without corners. Then you need to mark the center of such a homemade product.

It is not recommended to carry out hardening and heat treatment of the resulting sample at home. As a result, you can only worsen the performance of the cutter.

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Main stages of work

1. To make a hole in the cutter exactly in the middle, you need to repeatedly punch the central groove with powerful, directing blows, first on one side and then on the other. This is done until visible cracks begin to appear around the center.
2. Then take a drill with a carbide base. It allows you to simply and in the shortest possible time make the desired hole in the center of the part. All kinds of notches, burrs and small irregularities can be removed using a diamond semicircular needle file.
3. The disk is then centered. It is installed and screwed onto the surface of the machine. Slowly, rotating the disc with one hand, you should check the eccentricity. Its indicators of more than 1 mm require using a rigidly fixed pencil to outline the exact contour of the circle. Such a sample will allow you to make adjustments to the product configuration. The outer edge of the disc is completed on a machine using a sanding block.
4. Next, the teeth are cut on the sharpener using a cutting wheel. The number of such small elements is approximately 20. To facilitate work, the disk is marked with the appropriate number of marks. You can get a semicircular pocket by rounding it with a block. The angle of inclination of such slots corresponds to 30 degrees, their depth is 5-7 mm, which will help in routing the cutter.

To avoid jamming of the disc during the cutting process, the teeth are set. This operation is carried out very carefully; the steel has a fragile base, as a result of which the tooth can break. A shift of the tooth edges of 0.5 mm will be sufficient.

The main work on making a wood saw has been completed. To obtain a smoother base of the cutter, during its rotation, the block is slightly pressed on both sides, which will allow smoothing of the outer edges of the teeth. Also, do not forget that the cutter requires periodic sharpening of the surface. Carrying out such actions is associated with the use of cutting discs. Here it is worth applying a little pressure on the cutting serrated edge. The main purpose of such a cutter will be to cut boards about 20 mm thick, but in 2 times you can cut wood up to 40 mm.

To ensure the most accurate cutting of wood, hardened samples with a diameter of 62 mm are used. Their thickness can be 0.5 mm. In this case, they easily cut metal or plastic.

A wood cutter with a thickness of 0.5 mm does an excellent job of cutting in a perpendicular position.

Parallel, elongated cuts may warp it a little. The best indicators will be 0.8-1 mm in thickness. Increasing these ratios results in significant costs in terms of materials and engine loads.

Before making a router with your own hands, it is recommended to prepare a drawing. The diagram shows the main elements of the tool.

A milling cutter from a drill can be made quickly, but is used to a limited extent.

Design features

A homemade wood router is used for chamfering, shaping edges, and creating decorative carvings. A similar device for metal is equipped with special cutters and is designed to work with soft metal. If necessary, you can make a router for working with plastic, plexiglass and other materials.

The main elements of the tool are the spindle, motor and cutter. Rotation from the motor is transmitted to the spindle with the working cutter. Some metal and wood routers operate on single-phase AC power. You can make handheld routers with your own hands using a small DC motor.

For this, various cutters are used. The choice of element depends on the purpose of the future tool and the material being processed. Simple models are designed for wood processing. Such units are characterized by low speed. It is more difficult to make a metal milling cutter with your own hands, since this material has a high degree of rigidity and strength.

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Operating principle and classification

To manufacture the spindle, hard metal is used, which must meet certain requirements for rigidity and hardness. The operating principle of any milling cutter is as follows: the rotor is connected to a spindle onto which the cutter is fixed. When the tool is plugged in, the spindle begins to rotate. The material is cut with sharp knives.

The accuracy of the work performed depends on the rotation speed.

The stand for the router is also cut out from a piece of chipboard.

Since the number of revolutions depends on the density of the raw material, it is recommended to equip a homemade tool with a regulator.

• lamellar - makes grooves;
• upper – used to perform any woodwork;
• edging - makes edges and chamfers.

The top router is classified into the following types:

• fixed – rigid motor mount;
• submersible - the motor moves with the cutter.

Narrow-profile tools are subdivided taking into account the material and parts to which it is applied:

• tenon cutting machine;
• for drywall;
• to obtain a groove, etc.

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Self-production

A hand tool, represented by a motor that rotates a cutter, can be made with your own hands. To do this you will need a cutter, an electric motor and a chuck. The motor can be taken from any working electrical appliance. The cartridge can be taken from a hammer drill, since this part can withstand greater power.

The base for the motor is PVC or standard chipboard sheets. The base is cut out and fixed to the motor. The cartridge is connected to the engine using a special adapter. This will require the help of a specialist. Appropriate milling cutters are selected for the resulting material. The tool is ready for use.

The resulting hand-held device can be turned into a machine. To do this, you will need to equip a frame of suitable dimensions and make holes in the appropriate places. Such a universal machine made at home will not be able to provide sufficient speed to carry out high-quality work. It can be used for "rough" woodworking.

You can make a CNC machine at home. It is intended for the production of a product designed on a computer. The device with numerical control allows you to perform the following work:

1. Milling.
2. Laser cutting.
3. Engraving.
4. Drilling.

A homemade machine must be multifunctional. To make it you will need an MDF board measuring 1.5 x 1.5 m and fittings. The parts are cut out with a jigsaw and drill. To prevent chips from scattering during operation, a dust extractor is installed. The resulting tool is not used for metal processing. It can be used on aluminum, bronze, foam and plastic.

A CNC machine is made by hand using an aluminum profile with a cross-section of 80x40x4 mm. Beams are cut from it:

• 2 pcs. 1300 mm each;
• 4 things. 460 mm each.

Guides are inserted into 2 channels with a cross section of 50x30x4 mm. The legs of the machine are made from similar elements of the sofa. The base frame is ready. This multifunctional tool is based on stepper motors.

The main elements of a hand router are the motor and the cutter. The remaining parts of the device act as an intermediary, ensuring uninterrupted operation of the device. Therefore, when making a hand router, it is recommended to take into account the parameters of the motor and the cutter.

A homemade hand tool has the following advantages:

• low price;
• processing of various surfaces;
• simple structure assembly and maintenance;
• easy operation.

Experts attribute the low speed of material processing to the disadvantages of homemade devices. If the device is equipped with a standard motor, which is equipped with modern household appliances, then there will not be enough revolutions to process complex elements and surfaces. To eliminate this disadvantage, high-speed motors are used. They can be removed from a modern hammer drill. The powerful unit will allow you to adjust the speed to perform carpentry work of any complexity.

Homemade milling tools have low rigidity and strength, as they are made from scrap materials. The above advantages and disadvantages should be taken into account when manufacturing and working with a hand-held homemade device.

Every craftsman at least once in his life had to work with wood, and in the process of this work it was impossible not to use such a mechanism as cutters. And even more so, with repeated use, their ineffectiveness during long-term use immediately catches the eye.

Constant sharpening and maintenance of the cut takes a lot of time, and in the end, production materials do not last very long, but they cost a decent amount.

In order to always be able to work with wood, it is useful to have the skill to make cutters and materials accompanying these parts, such as knives, for example.

This article will tell you exactly how to make woodworking cutters with your own hands.

Preparing the template

Stage 1. Sketching.

The materials that may be needed at this stage look like this. Using a ruler and pencil, it is worth sketching the knives, since they are a direct reflection of the future cutter. If they are not available, it is not a problem to find an example on the Internet, and then redraw its profile and follow further instructions.

Stage 2. Cut out the shape.


Depending on how many knives we ultimately need, we count out the required number with a leaf and, grabbing them, carefully cut out the shape of the future product, without catching either the “edge” or the two load-bearing sides of the knife.

Stage 3. Making the mold.


Using glue, glue the template to the workpiece and carefully saw off the excess length with a grinder. Remember: it is important to preserve not only the edge, but also the sides! So, when working with an angle grinder, you should be somewhat careful and take into account the dimensions of the product.

Manufacturing of the product

Stage 1. Preparation for sharpening.


For this process we need a stone disk like the one in the photo. Who would be sorry to use new ones for this task - you can get them already, so to speak, used ones. After all, in the process you will have to slightly change the radius of the wheel so that when working on a stand, the product will end up with the desired shape. To do this, you should use “balls”, which will help you quickly bring the stone wheel into the desired shape.

Stage 2. Making knives.


Using the same stand, we cut out the shape we need according to the template. After the wheel became the desired shape (previous stage), this became much easier to do. Total: the product has become the shape we need. What's next? Next, we sharpen it to such an extent that the metal begins to bend slightly inward - this is what should serve as a signal that it is necessary to stop the process.

Stage 3. Formation of the finished product.


So, the final stage is formation. The knives that we obtained in the previous stages need to be inserted into the empty recesses on the cutter. At this stage, it becomes clear why it was necessary to observe the proportions of the sides at the previous stages. Carefully insert the knives all the way into the cutter and voila! – the product is completely ready for use, and the funds spent are minimal.

If you strictly follow the instructions, the process of making cutter knives will take the master no more than 15 minutes. In addition, given the minimal costs, you no longer have to worry about “dulling” or the fact that the knives included with the cutter may not suit the product and serve shorter than expected.

The period of operation of these homemade knives may vary, but according to statistics, it significantly exceeds the accessory knives included with the product, which require constant sharpening and attention during operation.

Observe the boundaries of the product according to the template, strictly follow the above instructions, and lo and behold - in no more than half an hour you will have at your disposal a high-quality product for a minimal amount.

Video: DIY woodworking cutters.

Working with various materials requires the use of high-quality cutting tools. Most of the required types have standard parameters and are freely sold in stores, but some samples have specific sizes or shapes. They are not produced or are extremely rare. To a greater extent, the question concerns cutters that have many profile options, varieties or types of design.

Finding the right type can take too much time, so sometimes there are no other options other than making a cutter at home.

How to make a cutter

Milling cutter is a general name for a wide group of cutting tools. There are two main types:

• on wood;
• on metal.

There are many types of cutter designs used to perform different technological operations:

• Whole.
• Composite (prefabricated).
• End.
• End
• Shaped.
• With replaceable plates and others.

The production of cutting tools is a high-tech process that is demanding on the quality of the material. For example, the production of end mills consists of several stages:

• Turning of a workpiece (shaping).
• Milling teeth.
• Processing of cutting edges (sharpening and backfilling).
• Heat treatment of the material (hardening, tempering, other operations resulting in a high-quality metal structure).

To manufacture other varieties, similar or other operations are performed, determined by the type and design of the tool. Homemade cutters are only modifications of ready-made samples.

Attention! The manufacturing technology of cutting tools is complex and requires the use of precise equipment. At home, production “from scratch” is impossible; only processing of the finished tool, changing its shape or size is available.

The need to use one type or another, to obtain a certain profile or size of the cutting organ, forces you to decide the issue yourself. Let's look at how to make a cutter with your own hands at home.

Homemade wood cutters

Making a wood cutter with your own hands is possible if you have the appropriate workpiece and a machine where it will be installed. At home, an electric drill or a hand-held milling machine is usually used. The most affordable option is to change the shape of a regular metal drill, but other methods can also be used.

Let's look at how to make a wood cutter from a drill. Depending on the purpose of the tool, you will need a workpiece (metal drill) of a certain size. If you plan to manufacture a shaped cutter, then the diameter of the workpiece must be equal to the maximum diameter of the final product. Manufacturing consists of two stages:

• Giving a profile.
• Creating a shank.

Both operations require the use of industrial equipment. In any case, a lathe will be required to make the shank. The hand router collet is designed for a diameter of 8 mm (there are options for 6 and 7 mm). Therefore, for large drill diameters, the shank should be prepared before creating the profile. This will eliminate beating, which is dangerous when processing wood. The easiest way to create a profile is by grinding. First you need to make a template, according to which you need to constantly check the status of the profile. To work, you will need a grinding machine (emery), a grinder or a cutting wheel mounted in the chuck of an electric drill.

To create replacement plates for the milling head, either ready-made samples are used, which are given the desired shape, or blanks made of high-quality metal. The profile is created by grinding on a machine at hand.

The final operation is backing. This is the process of setting a specific cutting edge angle to ensure that the back of the edge does not contact the workpiece.

Important! Backing is a rather labor-intensive process, but necessary; it is the only thing that gives the cutter the ability to work normally.

DIY metal cutter

Making cutters for metal at home is limited to regrinding existing tools, changing the profile or diameter of the cutting part. More active intervention will require the use of industrial equipment, as it will be necessary to perform complex procedures:

• Tempering of metal (a procedure reverse to hardening).
• Machining, including shaping, sharpening, backing).
• Hardening the cutter.

It is almost impossible to carry out these actions efficiently at home. In addition, work of this kind requires considerable professional training and experience, which not everyone has. Therefore, they are limited to only available procedures that involve minor intervention in the original state of the workpiece.

Making cutting tools at home requires the necessary equipment and suitable workpieces. In addition, you must have skills and experience, otherwise you can end up with a very dangerous product that can ruin the surface being processed and harm the craftsman himself. It is not recommended for an untrained person to carry out such work; it is better to seek help from a specialist.

When making wood products, various tools are used, which significantly speed up the process and reduce the amount of effort expended. These include a router, but it is completely useless without additions. It is impossible to hold it with your hands on the desired trajectory. For this purpose, add-ons for wood cutters are used; you can easily make them yourself.

Additions for a router should solve one problem - to hold the tool in the desired position when processing material. When purchasing an expensive machine, frequently used milling accessories are included in the kit. But for cheaper or highly specialized options, you have to buy them separately. The design of such additions is quite simple and does not require a drawing for self-production.

This addition allows for straight cuts and is often used when working with wood. It allows you to work on any surface, not just your desktop. The grooves are cut with its help.

The design of the add-on consists of:

• Rods that are attached to the body of the instrument.
• A fine adjustment screw is used to adjust the gap between the cutter and the surface.
• A locking screw, with its help, the rods are secured in the desired position.
• Overlays, on which the tool is placed.

The design of the base is quite simple and you can make it yourself.

To prepare an addition to the work you need:

• Install the rods into the holes of the tool body and secure them with a screw.
• Set the required distance between the surface and the cutter.

Additionally, by placing a specially treated block (with one rounded edge), you can significantly increase functionality and make cuts along a curve. This part is installed between the tool and the surface. Due to its unstable position, it must be handled very carefully.

The addition is used to move the tool over the working surface at any angle, which is different from the rip fence. The design makes it easier to mill holes located at a distance from each other. Special clamps hold the device on the surface being treated. If they were not included in the delivery set, then clamps are used. Some options are equipped with an adapter to adjust the direction of movement of the tool.

The design is best used together with a power tool whose support platform is adjustable. This will help eliminate the problem when the tire and the cutter are located in different planes, which happens when the tool and the workpiece are close.

The design is quite simple, but very effective. If you have minimal skills in working with the tool, it can be easily done at home. To do this, just take a block, which is attached to the surface to be treated using a clamp. If you fix the structure on two or more bars at the same time, you can make a groove in one go. The main disadvantage is the difficulty of accurately fixing the structure in relation to the future cut. But the following additions lack this.

The first fixture consists of a sheet of plywood and a guide connected together. It is used to work with blades of the same size.

When you need to use cutters of different diameters, a different device is suitable. Its main advantage is that the tool is in contact with the entire lower part of the material. The guide has a board (folding) that holds the power tool in the desired position to the material.

Very often, when working with wood, the material is milled against the grain, resulting in chips. To reduce this phenomenon, an addition is used that presses the wood at the entry point of the cutter, which prevents it from splitting off. The device consists of two guides connected at an angle of 90°. And another type is assembled from two parts in the shape of the letter L, which are attached to the material using clamps. It is often used for cutting grooves.

The copying sleeve runs along the edge of the template and thereby sets the blade in the desired direction. The addition is attached to the bottom of the instrument using screws or special antennae. Using a copy sleeve for a router is quite simple, but you need to ensure that the size of the cutting blade and the ring are the same, and they should not touch during operation.

The template is fixed to the material using tape or clamps. The rings should lie tightly on the workpiece. Using this device, the corners of the parts are rounded and the edges are cut out. To improve convenience, bearings or rings are installed on the templates. But there are several conditions: their diameter must match or an additional limiter must be installed that will keep the template at a distance from the workpiece. And for figure milling, flexible templates are used.

Before you make a template for the router, you need to decide on the grooves that it will cut. For its manufacture, it is best to use hardboard with a thickness of at least 6 mm. And to increase durability, they use birch: it has the best characteristics.

Jig routing is often used by furniture installers when large numbers of holes and grooves need to be cut. This allows you to significantly reduce installation time and also increase the quality of work.

To get a good result from using the template, you need to consider several points:

• The front is set to full depth.
• The most precise displacement of parts can be achieved using two additional rods.
• Tenon parts made using a template do not require additional fixation with glue.

To cut grooves in the shape of an ellipse or circle, circular devices are used. A simple compass for a router can be made from a rod, the end of which is connected to the base of the tool, and the second is equipped with a pin or screw. To obtain a circle, the rod is inserted into the hole, which serves as the center, and then a groove is formed along the contour. To change the diameter of the circle, you need to move the tool closer to the other end. A more convenient version of this compass uses two rods instead of one.

Such equipment is quite common and often comes complete with a router. With its help it is convenient to cut shaped grooves with different radii. And when it is necessary to obtain holes of small diameter, other equipment is used. Its peculiarity is that the pin, which is installed in the center of the workpiece, is located under the tool.

The design of such a compass includes:

• A base that is fixed to the material being processed using screws or vacuum suction cups.
• Two rods.
• Two shoes that fit onto the guides.
• Bracket connecting the router and fixture.

Using the holes in the bracket, the support plate of the equipment is easily aligned with the tool. If a circle is being milled, then only one shoe is used, but for an oval, both are used. Cuts made with this addition are of a higher quality than those made with a band saw or jigsaw. This occurs due to the characteristics of the tool, which rotates at a very high speed.

The home handyman is often faced with the need to cut grooves for a door lock or hinges. As a rule, a chisel and a drill were used for this. But this procedure can be carried out much faster and easier if you use a milling cutter with special equipment. This design allows you to easily create grooves on narrow surfaces and is a flat base that is mounted on the tool. And also two pins are additionally installed, which ensure the movement of the cutter in a straight line.

The main requirement for this design: the pins must be located in the center of the material being processed. If this condition has been met, then the groove will be located strictly in the middle. To shift the direction of processing, it is enough to put a sleeve of the required size on one of the pins. When using such an attachment, you must ensure that its edges are pressed tightly to the sides during processing.

If you need to cut a groove on a narrow surface, but there is no necessary equipment, then this problem is solved with the help of two boards. They are attached on both sides of the product in one plane. And the power tool itself is fixed with a parallel stop.

The use of such an attachment for a door hinge router allows you to:

• Make the most accurate notch without spending a lot of effort.
• Minimize the possibility of an error, the probability of which is very high without using a template.

Many craftsmen make equipment for a router based on their needs, since the range of serial analogues is quite limited. One such device is the addition for carving on rotating bodies. Using this addition, you can make a cutout on poles and other products of a similar shape.

The design of such equipment consists of:

• Cases.
• A disk that sets the angle of rotation.
• Movable milling carriage.
• Screws that secure the material.
• Locking screws.

If you additionally install a drive, you don’t have to use a lathe for processing.

The tenon cutter is designed for cutting tongue-and-groove connections on parts. There are special tools that cut most types of tenons. In its work, the addition uses a ring that moves along the template, thereby ensuring the movement of the tool in the desired direction.

Before making the template, you need to decide on the grooves for which it will be used. In its manufacture, durable materials that are resistant to wear should be used, since over time they wear off and the accuracy of the parts decreases. The use of textolite and multi-layer plywood has proven itself well.

To get good results when working with wood, you should follow safety rules. You need to make sure:

• The cutter is fixed in a collet.
• The accessory corresponds to the power of the power tool.
• When using an edge router, you must ensure that the bearing or guide ring is installed.
• The correct insertion depth is set (when using a submersible device, this can be seen on a special limiter).
• The workpiece must have support.
• To reduce the amount of dust when working, use a vacuum cleaner.

The use of attachments specially designed for the material being processed can significantly improve the result. And depending on the angle of their use, a different cut is obtained. Experienced craftsmen often make such attachments themselves. To do this, the cutting edge is sharpened at the required angle. But if you don’t want to waste time on homemade cutters, then you can easily buy them; the range in stores is quite wide.

It is quite easy to make accessories for a wood router with your own hands, and their benefits are great. This option is suitable for those who do not want to spend a lot when buying a tool or when the necessary equipment is not on sale. And the use of a router with furniture templates significantly reduces assembly time, and also improves the quality of work and prevents mistakes.