REady to buy some end mills

C

Chucketn

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I am ready to invest in some end mills. I have used and abused what I have during the learning process of using my first mill, a HF X2, and am now ready to invest in a set of better quality.
I have learned how to plunge, know the difference between conventional and climb milling. I understand the difference between a slot drill and a regular end mill. I even think I have a grip on feeds and speeds.
I haven’t mastered the knowledge of good-better-best in quality, or the need for roughing vs finishing mills.
I will be working with steel, aluminum, brass, and occasionally wood and plastic.
What I need to know is what sizes should I get? Should I buy a set? Individual mills? Do I really need a roughing mill? 2 flute vs 4 flute? Both?
Where can I find the best deal? Where do you get your end mills and why?
I have about $150 to spend on end mills. Would the sets of 2 and 4 flute from LMS due?

Chuck in E. TN
 
I'm just a self taught wanna-be, so this is nothing more than a personal opinion...

I started out with an inexpensive "standard set" of mills from Enco. I'm still using this same set for the majority of my work.
2 flute for doing slotting work, and 4 flute for doing "finishing" cuts as a general rule. Right or wrong, it works for me.
Over time I have added a set of roughing mills for hogging out the bulk of material when there is a lot of material to be removed. I feel that saves a lot of wear and tear on your "regular" mills used for finishing cuts. Again, just personal opinion.

I have also added "specialty" mills as needed. Specific sizes, ball end, corner rounding, etc. But I don't think buying high quality ($$$) end mills are necessary for a home shop user in most cases. If I owned a CNC machining center it would be a different story, but I don't so.....
I also buy un-coated mills for the same reason. Special coatings are for those who know how and where and when to apply them correctly.

Just my 2 pennies worth.
 
Chuck if you use ebay check out endmill lots. You can get some good deals lot of them are resharpened.

I got a lot of mine that way.

Paul
 
watch Enco for good deals on end mills. Their current Hot Deals catolog has them
 
Willie and Paul both have valid points --

I find I use 2 sizes of end mills 80-90% of the time, 3/8 and 1/2 - with 5/8, 3/4, and 1/4 trailing in useage. Personally, I would pass on a set and get what your most common use size is, adding a size as needs arise.

End mill quality/cost is all across the board. As you no doubt know you can spend an obscene amount for a single EM. Sounds as if you have become familiar with the use of a mill - using proper feed/speed - when you get controlling those two things, then you can get by quite well with the EM's from Enco, Shars, CDCO, etc (in home shop use!)

Like Paul, I have scored some really good hits on ebay with watching "lots" of end mills. Couple years ago I bought 5 'lots' totalling about 150 carbide EM's for about $1.50 each. They apparently were in use for CNC and sent out to resharpen and came back with too much removed - ie: the 1/2" were reading about .450-.470 in size. I ve got a drawer full of lathe bit doing the same thing...
 
Just something else to consider.

Center cutting end mills let you plunge cut. A worthwhile feature.

Two flute end mills give you more chip room for soft material..aluminum and such.

Four or more flute are for harder material and slotting. A two flute end mill will give you a terrible slot UNLESS you recut both sides, IE use a 3/8 cutter for a half inch slot. This is because the two flutes are not always in contact with the opposed surfaces.

Carbide has it's uses, for hard or tough material. For most of your cutting needs high speed steel or M2AL will suffice. M2AL is tougher and will take more heat than high speed steel. It's sort of the 'poor mans' cobalt. Don't get me wrong, cobalt is great, and will last longer than HSS cutters, but also costs quite a bit more than M2AL.

Hogging end mills are great for removing a lot of material fast. Used at a slow feed you can still do a decent finish cut with them.

So..for general use, HSS is fine. If you have the money, upgrade to M2AL cutters, they will last longer and stay sharp longer.

Those sold by Shars are fine. I've used the hell out of their M2AL cutters with complete satisfaction. Same for their hogging end mills. I use their 1 1/4 M2AL cutters to sharpen my lawnmower blades. It puts an edge on them that will cut paper. I get 25 to 30 blades before the cutter goes dull. Carbide would be better, but price wise it's cheaper to use M2AL. I did invest in a indexable carbide end mill to sharpen the blades for next year. I bought it used from Ebay. A Lovejoy 1 3/4 inch six insert for $35 plus shipping..about $48 total.
 
I pulled a page out of Enco's catalog - lot of good info there if you look...
Granted, it's not all inclusive, only a rough outline and no where near as specific as explanations like Dave's last one but it's a start.

-Ron
 
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