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To the hand tools used for the processing of wood and wood products at home, the milling machine for wood also applies. This tool has an extremely wide range of applications, and is used for various manipulations carried out with wood products or parts.
However, for successful work with such a tool, you need to choose the right model for a certain type of work and choose the right nozzle. About varieties of the machine for the processing of wood, as well as all kinds of nozzles for the work will be described in this article.
Read the article: woodcarving lessons!
Purpose and scope of hand milling machines
The main purpose of hand milling in wood is the processing of small wooden parts of any installation. Basically, these machines are used for working at home, besides they are arranged so that they can work without even having special skills and experience. The scope of such a machine is very wide. So, they can be used for:
- pruning or grinding extra layers of wood;
- creating holes in wooden parts (including holes for door locks and handles);
- grinding of wooden parts, including various planks, bars, boards;
- installation of wooden windows;
- installation of doors;
- processing of wooden skirting boards and so on.
The hand milling machine for wood is designed only for processing small parts, it can not be used for processing large wooden beams or large installations.
Types of milling machines and their brief description
All machines are divided into several groups:
- depending on engine power;
- by the type of action on the material.
These characteristics affect the scope of the device. Depending on the engine power, all milling machines for wood are divided into:
- heavy;
- of moderate severity;
- lungs.
If you touch specific figures, then in heavy machines the engine power reaches 1200 W. However, such devices are most often used for professional work, and not for home manual. Much depends on the desired scope of the device, the frequency of its use and the specific type of work performed.
Medium-gravity machines have engine power from 750 W to 900 W. Such devices are most often used for domestic processing of wood. They are quite functional, this power is enough to perform almost any homework, in which you need to use a wood milling cutter. With the help of a machine with an engine of this power, you can engage in decorative processing of wood and the assembly of furniture.
Lightweight machines have an engine power of up to 750 watts. For the performance of small work, such a machine is also suitable, but if the machine is used often enough, it is better to give preference to a more expensive, but also more functional device with a higher power engine.
Milling machines for wood used in home workshops are also divided according to the type of impact on the material. They are:
- motionless;
- submersible.
The main difference between fixed milling machines is that the metal bar in them is not adjustable in height. Thus, the functional of such a device is minimal.
With regard to submersible machines, their design allows you to adjust the depth of the milling in the material, the accuracy of milling and other processing parameters of the material. With the help of such devices, you can create a variety of parts, and handle almost any piece of wood. Of course, such machines are much more expensive, but their price is fully justified by the functionality.
Selecting a cutter
Processing of a wooden part is made directly by a knife-milling cutter. For different types of treatments use different knives.
The correct choice of the milling cutter for a manual router on wood is the key to successful wood processing.
In general, all cutters can be divided into several categories:
- end type;
- slotted;
- edge.
End mills are one of the simplest in their design. Outwardly they resemble ordinary drills, but at the end of their working length they do not have a conical part. One of the main features of these cutters is that they also have cutting teeth on their end part. This means that the end mills can be used for:
- cutting of wood blanks;
- quarter sampling;
- Edge processing;
- creating a groove through type;
- drilling.
With the help of such knives, they also process the contours of wooden parts and stepped surfaces.
The purpose of the grooving cutters is quite consistent with their name - they are used to create grooves of various shapes and sizes on the processed piece of wood. Nevertheless, grooving cutters for a wood router can be conditionally divided into several categories:
- Straight lines. Used to select the grooves of a rectangular profile.
- Shaped. With the help of them it is possible to create a groove of a certain shaped configuration, depending on the milling cutter.
- With the configuration of "swallowtail".
- Mills for creating grooves T-shaped configuration.
- Mills with a working part of the cone shape (used to create V-grooves and for engraving).
- Galvanizing (for decorative processing of wood products).
Mills, called edge, have the largest number of subspecies and subunits. They are most often used when working with a milling machine on wood. They may be:
- direct;
- figured (or profile);
- phigraine;
- cone type;
- casting;
- halting;
- micro-shot.
Straight cutters are also called copy machines. Most often they are equipped with special bearings that direct the action of the knife. Thanks to this, it is possible to create perfectly flat edges on the surface of a wooden product.
The profile, or shaped cut is intended for giving to an edge of a wooden product of certain shaped construction.
The cutters with the name "forged" are used mainly for the manufacture of skirting boards.
Cone cutters are used for processing the product at a certain angle. The ability to achieve this processing format is due to the fact that this knife-cutter is equipped with a guide bearing.
The miter cutters are used for rounding off sections of a wooden beam. Most often they also have a guide bearing.
Galvanizing, as well as cavity, designed to handle the cut in the form of an arc. However, their main feature is that they can give the product not only a convex, but also a concave shape. If we compare the malleus and the milling cutter, we can see that they are a mirror image of each other.
Micro-milling cutters are used to create spikes. Thin triangular spikes, which are created with this tool, are used to connect two wooden parts. With the help of these spikes, the joints are strengthened.
Precautions and safety when working with manual milling machines
The basic safety rules for the processing by hand of wooden products using a wood milling machine are described in the operating instructions supplied with this machine.
Before working with a new tool, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with its instruction manual. This will save the machine operator from injury, and the machine itself from damage and early depreciation.
Moreover, when working with such a tool, it is recommended to wear protective goggles and a respirator, due to the formation of a large amount of dust. Do not neglect these precautions. Moreover, it is necessary to put on earplugs headphones or earplugs, which will protect the hearing from the negative impact of noise of this level.
In the absence of special protective equipment, you can get by with ordinary cotton wool, which are plugged into the ears.
As can be seen from the material described in this article, when choosing a machine for manual processing of a tree should pay special attention to the functional of the machine and its intended purpose, as well as the scope application. For the processing of wood products at home, hand milling machines for wood, However, the modern market also offers many models of CNC machines (with numerical software management). Is this machine functional? Yes. However, for small-scale work at home it is not suitable, since it requires great work skills and knowledge of numerical programming for controlling this machine.
