How to mill straight?

[Crebel]

Oh. If you saw my thread about the runaway drill, you must think I have zero control over my power tools. But I brought out my router from long storage and suddenly can't cut straight.

I don't mean freehand; I intended to rout a groove along a board and, of course, set up another board as a guide rail that I let the flat part of the "footplate" slide against.

It did NOT turn out straight! More like a line drawn by a child, wobbling a bit here and there.

I've tried moving the router in both directions. Just as bad. I've tried using two guide boards between which the router can slide. But the little millimeter still needed for the router to slide manages to let it wobble anyway.

Edge routing with a bit that has a small roller gliding against the edge works great. The problem is when I need to rout a groove a bit into the piece.

What am I doing wrong now?

 

[thomas33]

Drive too deep or with dull cuts?

 

[Carl_Elvis]

Is the milling cutter straight?

 

[Crebel]

I am increasing the depth step by step so the problem is definitely not with the depth.
But it's true that I have only tried with one milling cutter, which could be dull or have taken a hit and become crooked. I should have thought of that myself to check, I'll do that and get back to you!

 

[anders07]

Make sure the axis doesn't wobble, it did on my old cheap milling machine. It was impossible to get anything done with it, so it had to go to ÅVC...

 

[Crebel]

Well, now I've tried. And there must be something wrong with the old steel because it went better with another one. Embarrassing that I didn't troubleshoot enough of course ...

 

[Helioz]

Also keep track of the rotation direction of the milling cutter, which determines whether you should push or pull the mill.