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What is the minimum diameter bit you use to cut MOP and your successful feed and speed?
Thanks,
Tom

https://www.precisebits.com/materials/i ... #FeedSpeed

Be sure your router/spindle has very little runout. It becomes more important as the bits get smaller. I've never broken a bit using these feeds and speeds.

Best, M

.010 is crazy but i’ll Give it a try as soon as I measure my runout. That was a good piece of advice. Thanks.

This is a part I made for Jay Lichty using a .010" bit.

It's possible...

Visited my dentist this morning. He will start saving his used burs for me. Mostly in the .020 - .040 range. Good enough for enamel, certainly good enough for shell and ebony and you can’t beat the price.
That said, I will try a couple of Precisebits and see how they fair for my work.

Dental bits are useful but they are not the same thing as the Precisebits and will not likely work for cutting though inches of MOP.

I've used dental burs successfully for cutting shell. I buy them new from Lasco Diamond--they're inexpensive. But the key to making them work, from my experience, is using a high speed dental headpiece. Mine runs about 300k RPM. With lower speed spindles, the precise bit shell cutter is the way to go

Dave

Anyone here try the Precise bits compared to the $5 Kyocera bits on ebay? I've been having some troubles lately with my .0156" bits breaking too often and I'm curious whether the PB tools would fix my problems. At 5x the cost, do they last 5x as long?

The Kyoceras are only 2 flute and the PB 3 flute so that should make them stronger but those feeds look rather slow. I'm running about those same feeds at 18k but I do about a 1xD depth. Sometimes my tools last, other times, not so much. With a 3flute tool you should be able to increase feed by about 30%.

Interestingly, it turns out that Drillman (the guy who sells the $5 tools) is really good friends with the PB guy - they just have totally different points of view when it comes to tooling.

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I’ve used both the drillman and the PB for fret slots, not shell. Yes, I break the drillman bits, but I buy them in packs of 10. It doesn’t hurt me deep inside like breaking a PB bit. But I’m not even doing dozens, let alone hundreds, like you. Just for the lowered stress I prefer the drillman bits, even if someone proves to me that it was actually more cost effective to use the PB bits.


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Which is why even though I have a couple (came with some stuff I bought) I've never use them



I do however go through enough of the 1/64th bits that I would switch if I knew I'd be saving money in the long haul. In some cases, the money could be saved in time too. Nothing worse than going to check on a job or hearing that the machine stopped only to learn that I broke a tool 1/3 of the way through.

I've never had any trouble with the .024 bits in wood. I can cut miles of fret slots at full depth in one pass without breaking a tool. It's just the 1/64" tools in shell that gives me fits. I do push them hard and maybe I just need to back off a bit. I also have a 60k spindle I'm dying to find time to hook up that might help as well.

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http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Is the .024 bit Drillman or PB? I use the .020 bits for Jescar wire with .020 tang. Using .022 bit on .020 frets meant they were too loose to keep them in place, so I've learned even that much difference is too much. Frankly I'd rather use .024 bits for less breakage. What fret wire do you use?

The .024 is from Drillman. I don't actually fret the boards, that's just what I'm using for customer work. I spent some time at Ann Arbor guitars with Dave Collins and Hesh Breakstone to better learn fretting and they liked pressing frets into the .024" slot using CA glue to keep them set 100% of the time. The advantage is that at that size there's no back bow induced into the FB.

I've been using the .024" bits for probably thousands by now client fretboards with no complaints whatsoever.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Andy, I just finished fretting one of your boards about 10 min ago. Used the AA method and the cauls you made. Works a treat. I like that the .024" slot lets me set the fret with a few hammer taps then I clamp it and finally wick in some CA. Done a bunch that way and have had zero problems.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

What wire are you using?


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Evo from Jescar

#43080 - tang is 0.020" barbs are 0.032"

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"