Direction of rotation of a rotatable, cylindrical machine part (e.g. cutter block, feed roller, glue roller, metering roller, application roller, ...) in relation to the workpiece or another machine part. Here, 'up-cut' means that the movements of the parts do not lead to a common feed direction.

Milling tools, planer heads

The cutting movement of the tool is opposed to the feed movement of the workpiece. The cutting of the wood does not start with the blade hitting the workpiece, but only at the beginning of the upward movement of the blade. Before, the blade's edge scrapes and pushes. During the upward movement, the cutting process begins. The resulting chips are elongated and their thickness increases.

Advantages

• longer tool life
• because the pressure on the blade is slowly starting to arise, starting from the main cutting edge
• by pre-splitting: The cutting process begins parallel to the direction of the fibers, thus the wood is divided before the actual cut. The blade has a shorter way of action than when milling in down-cut.
• tool drive power savings by pre-splitting
• allowed for manual feed and mechanical feed

Disadvantages

• for disadvantageous fiber directions, pre-splitting can lead to rough surfaces and increase the risk of tears

Application

Due to its economic advantages in terms of tool life, the majority of cutting operations on woodworking machines are carried out in up-cutting. In order to nevertheless achieve a good cutting quality and to exclude chipping, down-cut spindles are used.

Sanding aggregates

Sanding aggregates also usually work in up-cut, as this ensures a high chip removal and a short dwell time of the abrasive on a certain workpiece surface (keyword heating).