End mills

The golden end mills from China are that color because they are made out of sun-softened butter. US brand end mill lots can be had for a good price if you watch, a better alternative to cheap end mills that come in sets.
 
Agreed. The gold chinesium sets in wood boxes are worthless. literally. Even for hobbyists. Ruining parts with cheese mills stinks.
Save time money and aggravation buy one or two nice carbide cutters. Once you use a good cutter you’ll never go back. Seriously a nice 4 flute 3/8” x 1”LOC carbide EM is roughly $25-30. It will outlast the Chineseiums 10x over.
I recommend the type with a small radius .010-.030 on the end it helps prevent chipping out the tips.
 
I'm back with questions,
I went to eBay and searched for end mills.
Wow, what a selection...
However, a "8pcs Micrograin Carbide Slot Drill Solid Carbide End Mill 4 Flute TiAlN Coated 1/16-1/2" caught my eye for $12.58
Come on, really? $12.58! Let me take a guess, its $200 in shipping costs and will take a month to get to me, right?
That's less than one EM at victornet.com This has to be fake.
Is tooling on eBay really this cheap and is it any good?

Mike.
 
You can get good stuff off Ebay if you’re patient and know what to look for. That said, I wouldn’t touch this one with a 10 foot pole. Although the ad says it ships from Cailifornia, the seller is in Singapore and estimated delivery is 2-1/2 weeks (from California? :rolleyes:) Seller also has a very poor feedback percentage, especially in the last 6 months.

If you want some more good end mill recommendations, search the forum for end mill posts by Mikey, among others.

Tom
 
redvan22 said:
I'm back with questions,
I went to eBay and searched for end mills.
Wow, what a selection...
However, a "8pcs Micrograin Carbide Slot Drill Solid Carbide End Mill 4 Flute TiAlN Coated 1/16-1/2" caught my eye for $12.58
Come on, really? $12.58! Let me take a guess, its $200 in shipping costs and will take a month to get to me, right?
That's less than one EM at victornet.com This has to be fake.
Is tooling on eBay really this cheap and is it any good?

Mike.
Click to expand...


One big takeaway that I have made over the couple of years here is good endmills are not cheap, often costing more for one than a whole set of import end mills. However most of use don't really need a whole set, just a couple of select sizes, maybe even just one roughing and one finishing end mill of the most useful size.

I have a couple sets of cheap plain HSS endmills, 2 flute, 4 flute, and ball end which have worked for me. I've probably used the 3/8" 2 flute and 4 flute, on about 90% of my milling so that is what I've started shopping for in higher quality. At $20-30 each for respectable brands buying 2-4 endmills isn't too bad and I still have my cheap ones to cover for the unusual shapes / sizes.
 
For under $13 they'd be worth a shot. I have some 30 year old end mills from Enco that were from Yugoslavia. They were cheap and cut great. Most of my end mills are Niagra, US made. Very happy with them. In general, quality costs money.

Bruce
 
is that really the size of them? 1/16"×1/2"? Those are tiny end mills. Buy a couple or a few 1/4" and 3/8" diameter name brand HSS and one of those in carbide.
Joe
 
redvan22 said:
I'm back with questions,
I went to eBay and searched for end mills.
Wow, what a selection...
Click to expand...

Mike, discussing end mills is a huge can of worms. We need to know mill type, type of chuck, work material, etc. before we can advise you. The more info you provide, the more specific we can be BUT, just in general, I have some thoughts:
  • Try to buy on eBay and always buy new end mills. Used ones are always suspect. Why pay for worn edges that won't cut?
  • Most of us can get by with 1/8", 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" roughing and finishing end mills in both 2 and 4 flutes. Quite often, you can buy sizes just a little under these sizes for really good prices; use these for most of your cutting and save your on-size end mills for when you really need an on-size slot.
  • Buy good brands. Niagara Cutter, OSG, Titex, Guhring are always good. Many others also. In my opinion, it doesn't pay to buy Chinese brands or sets. They won't cut as well as a good one nor last as long, and won't teach you nearly as well.
  • Roughing is a big deal. Always try to bandsaw off as much as you can before you start milling. Then use roughing end mills before using a finishing end mill. A roughing end mill will cut 20% faster (feeds) and 20% deeper than a finisher will, and will last 3 times longer than a finisher (maybe much more). For slots and pockets, use a coarse pitch rougher; for edge/profile work, use fine pitch roughers. Similarly, for slots and pockets use fewer teeth and more teeth for edge work.
  • When you can, buy center cutting end mills so you can plunge cut. Non-center cutting end mills will plunge but you have to drill a hole in the middle before using them.
  • Try to buy radiused cornered end mills if the work piece allows. They last longer.
  • For aluminum, high helix 3-flute end mills work better than others for both slotting and edge work.
  • Carbide is great but are more fragile. Most hobby work does not require them unless you have to go deep or do a tall edge or mill something hard. Use cobalt for most of your end mills and they will last for a very long time.
  • Do learn about speeds, feeds and depths of cut. Understand what axial and radial depths of cut mean.
  • Learn how to feed manually before trying power feed. So much is learned by using your senses - hearing, feel.
  • Use a good milling vise and use the most rigid method you have for holding your end mills.
  • Try to keep the flute length of your end mill close to your needs. These things flex a LOT so the shorter the end mill, the more rigid it will be.
Off the top of my head, that's a general overview. If you can be more specific as to your needs, we can help more.
 
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Excellent Mikey, thank you.
Another member in this thread told me to look for your posts on the subject.
 
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