Spiral router bit kickback

[Redman]

As I understand your depth of cut is 1/8". It's hard to determine from the picture of the bit but the cutting edges just above the bearing appear to be right hand spiral. That would produce the upcut with standard rotation. It also appears this area above the bearing may be 1/4 to 3/8 long. The also doesn't appear to be any left hand spiral in that area that would produce the down cut with standard rotation, again from the picture it's difficult to tell. Could it be that you are only getting an upcut at the depth your are cutting?

[MVWoodworks]

Is it possible you have a defective bit?

[iublue]

I'm going to try again, but I can't fathom why it would be so bad. I can return it to Amazon for a full refund so I'm going to do that if that's what I decide to do.

One question.  The bit changes spirals in the middle towards the top.  Do you have that transition point of the bit within the piece you are routing?

The change in spiral is what makes it a compression bit and I know once I did not have the bit low enough on the router table and I got some tear out.  No kickback but just splintering.

[Stwood_]

Here's a guy taking off a substantial amount of maple with an almost identical Whiteside bit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtTcrCQAnmA

There has to be something wrong with mine. I cannot fathom how mine could be so bad.

Everything looked nice a smooth there. No grabbing...etc.

[FS7]

To answer all of the questions...

1) No, I wasn't using a pin. I have actually never used a pin and I've never had a problem routing any material other than the standard (tearout on end grain, going too fast, burning, etc.). Nothing like this.
2) The bottom of the bearing is on the "clean" part, which leaves about 3/4" of material to remove. The transition between spirals occurs in there, so it's not doing only up or only down.
3) Yes, it's possible I have a defective bit.
4) My "work holding system" is my hands. I use push blocks for raised panels and other parts where my hand is anywhere near the bit or I need the control. 

Seeing that video hogging out a full 3/4" x 1" or so with zero hesitation leads me to believe something is very wrong with mine.

[Stwood_]

Have you held the bit next to a picture of the bit, comparing spiral, etc?

[FS7]

Have you held the bit next to a picture of the bit, comparing spiral, etc?

Hadn't thought of that. I'll take a look.

[Maple Leaf]

I’ve had a similar experience with the same bit purchased several years ago. I hadn’t used it until last summer when I needed to pattern trim a bunch of 9” long x 7/8” thick bench dogs from soft maple. They were band sawn to less than 3/32” of their finished shape. The pattern was double-stick taped to the stock. I wasn’t using a starting pin, although that’s always a good idea. The table-mounted Porter Cable 7518 router was turning 13,000, and there was dust collection above and below.

The first one want fine; the router wasn’t working hard, and the cut was smooth with no burning. The second one was going fine with slow, steady feed until about half way around when it was pitched 20’ across the shop with no warning or aberrant behavior from the router. WTF??? 

So I tried another one, even more carefully, and this time band sawn even closer to the pattern. Same result - unguided missile with no warning and no apparent reason. So now I counted my remaining fingers and pondered the whole caper. I finally came to the conclusion that a) I wasn’t abusing the machine, tooling or setup, and b) my really expensive router bit was the unlikely culprit since I’d done this exact same operation numerous times with straight 1/2” flush trimming bits. So what to do?

I decided to ask the experts, so I called Whiteside. Maybe they could tell me what I was doing wrong. I had no real expectations. Surely any warranty on the bit had expired a couple of years earlier even though I hadn’t ever used it. The nice young lady on the phone listen to my brief explanation, then said she was transferring my call to Todd Reece. 

So I related my tale to Mr. Reece. He went through all the usual questions: router speed, depth of cut, feed rate, etc. I’m thinkin’ I’m about to get some runaround when he says something to the effect that “I really don’t like that part about it kicking back across the shop. There is a possibility that something’s wrong with the bit. Would you please send it back to us for testing?” Well, certainly. “I'll have a new bit sent out to you today, and I’m really sorry for the inconvenience. Please call me when you’ve had a chance to use it.” No questions asked - no hassle about when or where I bought it. 

So picked my phone up off the floor, thanked him and sent the bit back. A couple of days later the replacement showed up. I used it exactly as I had the original, with no drama or issues. I called Mr. Reece, and we talked about the issue. He said they had blueprinted my original bit, and it was within a thousandth of spec, so they didn’t actually learn much, but he was pleased that the replacement was working as designed.

I’m still using it. I used it today, and it still cuts perfectly. I later found out that Todd Reece is the general manager at Whiteside. I’ll probably never buy another router bit from anyone but Whiteside.

[FS7]

I’ve had a similar experience with the same bit purchased several years ago. I hadn’t used it until last summer when I needed to pattern trim a bunch of 9” long x 7/8” thick bench dogs from soft maple. They were band sawn to less than 3/32” of their finished shape. The pattern was double-stick taped to the stock. I wasn’t using a starting pin, although that’s always a good idea. The table-mounted Porter Cable 7518 router was turning 13,000, and there was dust collection above and below.

The first one want fine; the router wasn’t working hard, and the cut was smooth with no burning. The second one was going fine with slow, steady feed until about half way around when it was pitched 20’ across the shop with no warning or aberrant behavior from the router. WTF??? 

So I tried another one, even more carefully, and this time band sawn even closer to the pattern. Same result - unguided missile with no warning and no apparent reason. So now I counted my remaining fingers and pondered the whole caper. I finally came to the conclusion that a) I wasn’t abusing the machine, tooling or setup, and b) my really expensive router bit was the unlikely culprit since I’d done this exact same operation numerous times with straight 1/2” flush trimming bits. So what to do?

I decided to ask the experts, so I called Whiteside. Maybe they could tell me what I was doing wrong. I had no real expectations. Surely any warranty on the bit had expired a couple of years earlier even though I hadn’t ever used it. The nice young lady on the phone listen to my brief explanation, then said she was transferring my call to Todd Reece. 

So I related my tale to Mr. Reece. He went through all the usual questions: router speed, depth of cut, feed rate, etc. I’m thinkin’ I’m about to get some runaround when he says something to the effect that “I really don’t like that part about it kicking back across the shop. There is a possibility that something’s wrong with the bit. Would you please send it back to us for testing?” Well, certainly. “I'll have a new bit sent out to you today, and I’m really sorry for the inconvenience. Please call me when you’ve had a chance to use it.” No questions asked - no hassle about when or where I bought it. 

So picked my phone up off the floor, thanked him and sent the bit back. A couple of days later the replacement showed up. I used it exactly as I had the original, with no drama or issues. I called Mr. Reece, and we talked about the issue. He said they had blueprinted my original bit, and it was within a thousandth of spec, so they didn’t actually learn much, but he was pleased that the replacement was working as designed.

I’m still using it. I used it today, and it still cuts perfectly. I later found out that Todd Reece is the general manager at Whiteside. I’ll probably never buy another router bit from anyone but Whiteside.

That's convincing enough to make me give them a call.

[KyleD]

That's convincing enough to make me give them a call.

I agree. At some point a person has to say he doesn't know when he doesn't know.
Good luck and please let us know if you try a second bit and your results. 
Thanks for taking the time time to share your troubles. I have learned a lot over the years from peoples troubles and solutions on this forum.