Poll - Who Makes the best end mills?

[eac67gt]

The question is - who makes the best end mills?

 

[Cheeseking]

I havent used em all or taken notes but I can say more and more I use carbide ones. They just cut so much nicer its like night and day. SGS have worked well for me.

 

[joe_m]

I'm just a hobbyist, not a metalurgist, so I just go for whatever I scrounge up. After years of collecting machinist chests I've got a single chest full of end mills in different sizes, flutes - square end, round end, roundover etc. Whatever is sharp works for me. I don't usually look at the maker but just went and grabbed a handfull and most of those were weldon or b&s so I guess that's what was preferred by the pros way back whenever.

Joe

 

[dfletch]

Most of mine are cheap import from Wholesale tool. I have no idea what the brand might be. I figure what the speed should be and run them a little slower. They seem to work fine for hobby use. If I had a lot of production work I would certainly upgrade.

 

[doco]

I can usually ruin anything I use in just one application. So, I guess they all are just fine...:angry::banghead:

 

[lineman]

Like doco, I'm good at ruining any kind, but most of mine are Cleveland & Niagara.

 

[flutedchamber]

I would say OSG, Cleveland and Niagara. But it depends on what you're cutting, concerning what is "best".

 

[eac67gt]

Just to clarify why I posted this, I was sitting here this morning looking at a catalog and wondered what do most people buy.....what do most people prefer when they buy an end mill. It was a general purpose question so I thought I would do a poll to see what everyone thought. Maybe it doesn't make sense but I thought it would be fun.
Have a great day everyone and thanks for your vote.
Ed

 

[swatson144]

Of the choices I think Niagara is the best but I voted for Hertel as they are a great value in my opinion.

Steve

 

[Ray C]

LOL... I got my mill 3 years ago and purchased a 12 piece set of TiN coated endmills from Shars for about 70 bucks. All but one (which I broke by accidentally doing a hill-climb cut) are in great shape. For hard stuff, I buy TiALN carbide of whatever brand is the cheapest. I have them in most sizes as well as rounded and pointed tip. I like the carbide better than HSS and will go all carbide in the future -except for the corner bits because they're so expensive and not used all that often. I think for homeshop use, few people are really pushing the limits of the tooling.