Best place to buy end mills? advice

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gsx-rboy750

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Hi. Looking to buy a couple ball endmills and was looking for a good place to buy from and a recommendation on number of flutes, coating or non coating and etc. This is for tough non heat treated PM steels.
Thanks in advance.
 
I purchase from ENCO (now MSC). They have good pricing and quick shipping.

2 Flute is for the greatest chip load removal
4 Flute/Multi Flute will produce a finer finish with reduced chip load removal.

I prefer M-42 Cobalt(8% cobalt) end mills which I can run faster than HSS. I have not experienced micro-chipping which happens with HSS.
Carbide Multi-Flute will produce a very fine finished product and can be run faster than HSS or Cobalt however due to its rigidity it tends to chip rather than wear.

Bottom Line: Rough in the part with 2 flute Cobalt and finish with 4 flute either Cobalt or Carbide.
 
As for coatings I'm of the opinion that a knifemaker isn't going to generally push an endmill in a way that TiN or AlTiN becomes a cost benefit, so I would recommend sticking with uncoated unless you're going to be moving a lot of aluminum and the coating is there for lubricity.

That's very general of course. You could devote an entire forum to "which cutter/which coating for X application."
 
try charlie at carbide plus, our shop uses him and his service his excellent
he reps various
800-CARBIDE

don't forget a rigid setup
 
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Generally speaking two flutes for aluminum, plastics and other "soft" materials. Four flutes for steels. For blade steels I would suggest going with carbide end mills.
If you're looking to leave a fine machine finish rather than hand finish using one endmill to rough in, and a second to finish may be a good idea.
Workholding is important for a good finish. The more stable you can lock the part down the less chatter you will get. Figuring out your speeds and feeds will also be extremely important blade steels can easily work harden which can destroy cutters and your workpiece in a flash. Running a good coolant/lubricant will help minimize this.
For specialty cutters I usually go to Harvey tools, but for general work the carbides from McMaster Carr have been fine, and they have fast shipping usually.
 
McMaster is a great vendor, I usually get things overnight due to proximity, but they are expensive. An uncoated 1/8 carbide endmill that runs 5 or 6 bucks from Maritool or Lakeshore will be 11 bucks.
 
i keep a few cheapo ball end mills in house in HSS and have 3/16 and 1/4 in carbide for stuff smaller then that (and i do alot of small slots for kitchen knives ) i use dremmel tool 3/32 and 1/8n cuters the have more mass and smaller "tooth" cause of the multi flutes but i still snap them off
 
I orders 1/4 2 flute, 1/4 4 flute, 3/8 2 abd 4 also from lakeshore. They seemed prised right and recommended. On another note if your kids are interested in what you do show them dont worry about them breaking stuff. I have had to teach myself cause my father was more concerned about things breaking when i was young and he could have shared his knowledge. Now that he is old and handicapped it is too late. Advice exchange for fathers.
 
Knowledge not shared is knowledge wasted..... my dad made me do all the work while he drank beer and told me what to do next. When my kids got old enough I had them work with my dad... It was cruel but funny cuz he still drank beer while they were doing the work they found out I wasn't BS'n 'em...

Education is good but nothing beats hands on technical experience even if its just fixing a leaky faucet...
 
Matthew Gregory said:
I like Lakeshore Carbide.
Click to expand...

+2 :thumbup:

Cutting will the tip of a ballmill (such as cutting a fuller) in steel is a job for a two flute with minimal stick out and a rigid setup. I like a ALTIN coating for this. Even though you can't get the SFM into the correct range at the tip, I find it still reduces BUE, so that's what we use for that application.
 
Another tip for ball endmill use is that if your mill is capable, tip the head a few degrees to avoid cutting with the center all together.
 
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