# Sommerfeld Ultimate Rabbet Bit Set



## wbrisett (Feb 12, 2011)

I was in the market for a rabbet bit set, and after comparing different rabbet bit sets (Whiteside, Eagle America, Freud, MCLS, and Sommerfeld), I opted to spend the money on the Sommerfeld set. I have two other sets of his bits (raised panels and glass panels) and they have held up well. I do wish he made the bits here in the US, but that's a different topic for another day. 

I don't know if anybody else owns this set, but the one thing that disappoints me greatly is you have 16 bearings and no way of knowing what size they are and what size rabbet is created when you use a particular bearing. 

I used my digital caliper and measured each bearing, then worked out a spreadsheet with the bearings and rabbet sizes. This is nice for a quick reference, however it still leaves out one thing. Telling the bearings apart. So, I went to my software drawing package and created a 1:1 chart that has all the bearings. Now I can just look at the chart figure out the rabbet size I need, then compare the bearings to the chart to determine the proper bearing. On my printer, things are scaled correctly and I can simply place the bearing on the chart and determine the proper bearing to use. 

Ultimately, it would have been better if there was some markings on the bearings so you could look at one of the 16 bearings and know what size it is, the difference between the 1-35/128" bearing and 1-31/128" bearing is very tiny, too small to eye-ball, but the chart helps. 

*edit: added as an attachment to this thread.*


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

wbrisett said:


> I was in the market for a rabbet bit set, and after comparing different rabbet bit sets (Whiteside, Eagle America, Freud, MCLS, and Sommerfeld), I opted to spend the money on the Sommerfeld set. I have two other sets of his bits (raised panels and glass panels) and they have held up well. I do wish he made the bits here in the US, but that's a different topic for another day.
> 
> I don't know if anybody else owns this set, but the one thing that disappoints me greatly is you have 16 bearings and no way of knowing what size they are and what size rabbet is created when you use a particular bearing.
> 
> ...


I've got a Whiteside and a CMT set and they only have 7 bearings each to go from trim (0) to 1/2 inch. 4/128 only makes a difference of 1/64 from one rabbet to the next and I don't ever remember needing to make a rabbet that fine in measurement. With just 7 bearings it isn't that hard to tell them apart.


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## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Wayne 
Do not know how they could mark them, but sure it has to do with cost
But like Charles I have the CMT set only seven bearings on my set.


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## wbrisett (Feb 12, 2011)

Semipro said:


> Do not know how they could mark them, but sure it has to do with cost


Maybe it was cost, but that set was quite a bit more than most others out there already. As far as marking them, the larger bearings could have been etched on the tops without affecting the bearing. Now that I have a home-cooked solution, I'm fine, but it really was a disappointment that they didn't at least have a chart with this information in it.

Edit: Not sure why I didn't think of this, but looking at the CMT site, they have an identical set (grand rabbet set). They have a chart on their website that has all the combinations. I updated my chart for the Sommerfeld kit which instead of reading 128" of an inch, matched up to the CMT chart, which is what I'm sure Marc intended.


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