I am going to be using a clear coating of epoxy on stained wood. I am going to be cutting sections out of the wood after the epoxy has fully dried. I am doing this because I need the epoxy to be level (have sharp edges) at the edge, and not rounded around the edges (which would happen if I epoxied after the pieces were cut).
What would be the best type of bit to use for cutting the epoxy?
if you cutting wood and the epoxy at the same time I would suggest a o-flute plastic tool
as they will work great in woods as well I would check out the Onsrud 57-600 series of tools
That’s funny, I was just looking at the LMT Onsrud bits before I posted the thread. The problem is that I need the bit to be 1/8" inch, and the 57-600 only goes down to 1/4".
Would it be safe to say that any bit made for plastics, would work safely for epoxy?
Also, those bits are downcut. Wouldn’t I need a upcut for epoxy and wood?
hmm well the upcut or downcut is really depending on what you are doing either tool can be used in either plastic or wood
are you making a profile or a pocket cut in the material? and how deep on those?
honestly any wood solid carbide 2-flute spiral should cut through that just fine I just suggested the o-flute tool because the edge finish will be a little smoother
but yeah depending on the epoxy that you used its basically plastic as long as there are no glass fibers or composites in the epoxy your should be fine cutting through with standard carbide tooling
now what I do not know is if on the edge finish you will be able to polish it to a clear finish and being restricted to a 1/8" your tool options are limited
can the design just absolutely not be cut with a 1/4" tool?
What is the final shap of the peice you might be able to cut it and apply something to the edges to get a sharp edge such as tape or card stock
PreciseBits carries o-flute bits in 1/8 diameter: http://precisebits.com/products/carbidebits/micr-O_1F.asp
They will be drawer panels, the wood will be 1/2" red oak with the epoxy finish on top.
Note: Wood might have to be 1/4" because the bits I’m finding only have 1/2" cutting depth.
Correct, it would not look as good for the effect I need to achieve.
Thanks Edgar, I contacted their support to ask them additional questions about this bit.
oh this is just an epoxy finish? I thought your meant solid block of epoxy containing wood
if you are cutting thin material like that you may want to think about a compression spiral to prevent chip out in the finish
OK thanks WorkinWoods, will look into this.
I’m surprised to hear that (but very happy). Were the edges clean or rough? What speed / feed did you use?
Do you have any pictures of the material that you are cutting I would be interested in seeing it?
thanks
Here is the type of epoxy resin that I am talking about. Probably 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. The wood will be red oak. I need to cut through both of them;
(I am not making little boxes like this. It is just an example of the type of epoxy finish that I am talking about cutting through).
yeah man what you really need is a compression spiral tool to give you a clean top and bottom side finish in that material
@RobertCanning
do you have something against compression tools lol ?
just curious
oh no defiantly I guess agree to disagree on this one just from personal experience the tight clamping method works alright but defiantly isn’t a sure thing
but I will leave it at that
I agree but Onsrud recommended their 63-760. (https://www.amazon.com/LMT-Onsrud-Carbide-Uncoated-Plastics/dp/B0020B5G88?th=1 ).
I looked for a good 1/8" compression spiral but couldn’t find one. Still looking though.
if you are looking for a good 1/8"compression I would look at the Amana 46180-K
yeah i imagine a upcut would be okay just as long as it does not try to separate the epoxy from the wood should be okay if like you say the epoxy is 1/8-1/4" thick I was just watching the video and the finish on there was not that thick
That is one beautiful bit 
I will test both the Onsrud 63-760 and the Amana 46180-K. Thanks for the recommendation !
