Cutters for Machining Cellular PVC

Plastic trim material mills well with ordinary tooling. May 5, 2007

Question
What is the best tooling for machining AZEK? Will M-2 steel hold up or is carbide a must?

Forum Responses
(Architectural Woodworking Forum)
From contributor A:
High speed steel is adequate for short and medium runs. I recall the azek specs refer to it as being similar to pine in density and abrasiveness. Long or repetitive runs - we would use carbide tooling.

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From contributor V:
I run azek through my Mikron moulder. Runs great, but what a mess static cling. You can get about 200 feet out of a m2 knife; m3 is better. I run a crown for a local lumberyard. Had a carbide knife cut. The azek sales guy gave me the same-as-pine pitch. It is BS. I could run 3 times the amount of pine. I will say that even when the knife gets dull, it still cuts - kind of melts the azek, leaving a nice smooth profile. Ha ha.