Indexable end mills

I used mine on a PM 25 before I got the Lagun


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I think i will give it a go at the end of the day i dont push my mill hard and am conservative with my cuts so i cant it being an issue
 
I have 3 sets of them, bought one new and got the other 2 set, in plant shut down buy ups. One set uses CCMT inserts, one uses AKPT inserts and the last set uses some unknown insert. They work okay, but they are nothing special, knowing what I know now, I would never buy another set, unless it was a Kennamatal or similar brand unit, you buy cheap, you get cheap.
 
I think i will give it a go at the end of the day i dont push my mill hard and am conservative with my cuts so i cant it being an issue

Just curious as to the max speed on your mill. Reason I ask is that inserted carbide end mills run at much higher speeds than most hobby machines can run at. Take aluminum for example. Cutting speeds can vary with the insert and manufacturer but a typical average is 2000-3000 sfm. So, for a 1/2" diameter cutter used in aluminum, you are looking at a little over 19,000 rpm. Not saying it won't cut but it won't cut the way the manufacturer intended, like Wreck said. Just food for thought and at the end of the day, its your money but for a small mill like yours, HSS or cobalt might work better.
 
Just because your mill cannot hit 19000 rpm doesn't mean that these inserted end mills are useless. I tried to cut a slot in a mystery 4140 round. The reason I say mystery is that it was a gift and had no certs. It did have paint on the end, so it could have been pre-hard. The Chinese end mill set wouldn't cut and just made the poor Jet knee mill at Techshop rumble. I suspect that one of these inserted end mills could have done the job. After reading a bunch of negative reviews online for use on small mills, I made a poor-man's version with a small round steel bar with a slot cut for a cobalt lathe bit rigged up like a fly-cutter. It was retained with a section of water pipe used as a sleeve. It got through the cut at a slow speed and glacial feed rate. I suspect that this cut would have required substantially less than 19000 rpm with any reasonable inserted end mill, but I didn't want to spend $200, since the Internet comments were kind of negative.
 
personally, for small mills I would suggest getting a couple of cobalt roughing end mills in 1/4 and 3/8 sizes, then a couple of 1/4 3 flute carbide end mills. Rough out the parts with the roughers, then finish with the carbide at a higher rpm. That will cover almost all materials, the roughers will take a beating and still keep going and your carbide end mills will last longer. If you look on Amazon every so often, they have tools heavily discounted for the last one, typically as add on items. I've bought a whole bunch of taps, end mills and the like (including a beautiful 1/2in 3 flute Morse rougher) for around $5-7 each. Real quality tooling for Chinese prices. Latest find was a Mit 10-13mm hole guage for $8 posted.

Now face mills on the other hand really lend themselves to carbide. A cheap 2in 4 flute face mill and some alu specific inserts off eBay should do a lovely job. I have one high on my list :)
 
I have an 80's 8 x 26 MSC knee mill. I have an old set of 1" dia Valenite Mini-Mills that are similar to the Shars Little Hogger sets. The Valenite 90 degree tool is my favorite and used most every time I make something. Unfortunately it uses (2) 5/16 IC triangle negative inserts, but they can still be bought on ebay easy enough. The 45 degree chamfer tool is also used a lot (3/8 square inserts).

I also have the same set in 1.5 diameter sizes, but they worked great on a Bridgeport but not too well on my little mill.

I liked the little 1" ones much that I made a 5/8 and 3/4 diameter set of 90 and 45 cutters by copying the Valenite design that uses the same inserts, but just one insert each. They work well on the little mill for steels at 1700 rpm. I run same speed for aluminum and works good for that as well, despite not being "correct" speed.
 
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