CMT 855.502.11 Drawer Lock Bit, 1/2-Inch Shank, 2-Inch Diameter, Carbide-Tipped

CMT 855.502.11 Drawer Lock Router Bit is a well-made (in Italy), quality tool.Once mastered, I got (expected) near-perfect results. . .no thanks to CMT's LACK of instructions (not) included with the bit or available at the website (that I could find with several intense searches).My helpful tips. . .for newbies. . . like I was. . .but no more!Search YouTube. Study presentations. Combine understandable ideas to form what will be your own workable/practical technique.Noteworthy:1. Determine stock thickness used in demo.2. Height of bit measurements (usually) refer to top of carbide tip.3. Depth of fence measurements (usually) refer to edge of carbide tip.4. Test cuts must be made on exact same stock thickness as your final pieces.5. Have "several" such scrap pieces ready--you'll need them!6. For vertical cuts, consider making "jig" to hold stock and sacrificial piece (to avoid tearout) firmly agaist fence.7. Once you master the process, you will produce "perfect" drawer lock joints!

I've used this bit to build a bunch of drawer boxes using prefinished 3/4 maple ply fronts and prefinished 1/2 baltic birch sides. I tried to make 1/2 inch fronts (since a finished front will be installed later) but there's not enough material in 1/2 inch ply to make the joint work. These are a little fussy to get set up but after I got it right I cut a front piece to use as a pattern to set the cutter height on future setups and that speeded up the process for a later run of drawers dramatically. I haven't had any real problem with tearout but I do use a zero-clearance (sorta until it gets boogered up) insert in my router table fence and always follow the piece being cut with a waste piece (which can be used repeatedly). Over all it seems to be a real nice bit and probably worth five stars except for the initial setup which in all fairness is really just a property of this type of bit. By the way, the trickiness in the setup, at least for me, was in getting the vertical position of the cutter right. That was compounded by my initial attempt at using 1/2 inch material for the fronts. Based on that experience I'd suggest you use 3/4 inch minimum for the fronts and make some fronts and sides out of scrap of the same thicknesses you'll be using and vary the cutter height until you like to looks of the JOINT. THEN you can tinker with the fence position to get your drawer side flush to the front or wherever you want it.

cant ask for better quality

Watched a few video's and it does a perfect job. A really good router bit.

excellent bit ,however took some time setting up

Bit is hard to set up, and I don't care for the end result. There are no directions or help for proper use, and trying to make the cut with one of the pieces vertical is very hard to accomplish.

CMT is a name you can trust for Router Bits and the Drawer Lock Router Bit is great for building drawers and also joinery and slides.

very nice item

love it, what quality, cant wait to start making draws. seen it used on youtube, definitely the way forward.the packaging is second to none, typical of Italian engineering.