I am looking for help drilling holes in Cherry wood. I am making a cribbage board and used Vectric Pro to design it.
I have a DeWalt router running at the lowest speed. I am doing peck drilling and it starts to squeal and smell like smoke after about the 3rd hole. I am using a .125 drill bit for the holes. I have drilled into Poplar wood and have not had this problem. recognizing that Poplar is softer I am at a loss as to the proper speed for Cherry. The tip of the drill bit also showed signs of heat.
Would I be better off using an end mill or ball nose and still do the peck drilling function?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
If this is not the right place to ask this please direct me to the proper area/topic.
Maybe increase your plunge rate? If the operation is too slow the bit stays in the hole and gets hot.
I would decrease your depth of drilling for each peck and do more pecking for each hole. Do the chips escape when it comes back out.or are they stuck to the bit?
The drill bit is dulled so a fresh one will be better.
I would guess you are going too slow & shallow per peck.
Using an end mill of .125" whould also do, jut dont use a down-cut 
Drill bits aren’t typically meant for spinning that fast. Your drill would probably go a tenth of the speed of the slowest on the DeWalt router. I’d think you’ll get better results with a router bit in the router.
I set the depth of cut so each hole takes 3 passes and that works well in oak. Drill bit not too hot. Takes longer but works. When I tried full passes I had heat and some tear out.
Thanks for all that responded. Some of the suggestions I had already tried. I will review my process and move forward.
I have an upcut bit that I will give a try. I had used an old brill bit and a new drill bit with the same results. I recognize the speed of the DeWalt is extremely high for the drill bits, but what’s a man to do?
I will post here again when I solve this issue.
Thanks again
I had the same problem while making a race medal holder. The peg holes needed to be 1/4" and I happened to have 1/4" end mill. Easy right?
Commence overheating and smoking.
I messed with the plunge rate, but it didn’t help too much. That much contact with the wood on all sides was causing the bit to get too hot. I made it through the operation by pausing the machine every couple of holes to allow it to cooldown. I eventually just used the circle drawing tool in easel and used a smaller bit so it wouldn’t be in constant contact with the wood.
So I would make 1/8" circles in easel and carve them using a 1/16" upcut bit.
Also, did you check that your pegs will work in the holes that you’re drilling? Due to deflection in the machine, my 1/4" holes ended up being slightly too large and that made the glue up difficult. Using the circles and the smaller bit, I managed to fine tune the hole size until the pegs were a snug fit, no glue required. If you’ve ever tried to sand down squeeze out between 30 pegs before staining, you’ll know how much happier I am using a friction fit!
Good luck!
I’ve had success drilling into pine, using one of the Inventables air cooled spindles. They make a great automated drill press. What I’ve found that works is:
