[Oakwerks]

I was doing test cuts on my router table with a new Triton.... One of the cuts is ragged on one side...
I wonder what may have happened... The other cuts look ok.. This was the last one...
The cutter is a brand new Harbor Freight....
There was a lot of sawdust in the groove, was hoping the dust port on the router would pull away...

 

[Midlandbob]

Look like one is uphill and one downhill. Did you try to climb cut ( cut carefully in the wrong direction_ just a hair to clean up)?

 

[Dave Paine]

Looks like pine.

Is the router bit HSS or carbide?

Did you make the cut in one pass? If so, you were taking off too much and got tearing rather than a clean cut. You want to be making a final pass which only takes off e.g., 1/16in.

A single pass in a groove like you show will collect the chips, just the nature of the beast. They can get packed in quite tight. A second pass will clear them out easily.

 

[Oakwerks]

That's what I suspected..... The depth is 5/16s..... One pass....
Carbide cutter.....

Always used a dado stack for this kind of work, until I built a router stand.....
Live and learn..... Thanx....

 

[Oakwerks]

Look like one is uphill and one downhill. Did you try to climb cut ( cut carefully in the wrong direction_ just a hair to clean up)?

No, I didn't .....

 

[Steve Neul]

It looks to me like most of the problem is with the board. Some just route fuzzy when run against the grain. Probably a second pass would clean most of it up.

 

[Midlandbob]

I misunderstood that you were cutting a dado.

It remains that one side is cutting slightly against the grain. If you have the option of making the dado slightly wider than the cutter, you can possibly clean up the fuzzy side with a fine climb cut using a fence on a router table but the groove will be a bit wider?
There is a small plane for cleaning the sides of dadoes it comes as two small planes or one with a blade going each way. I have used it to clean or adjust the width of a dado.
Grain direction of wood can be a nuisance at times.

 

[Oakwerks]

Ran some more dados today.... Taking another pass cleaned up everything.....