Sending Out End Mills For Resharpening?

R

rlinger

Joined
Mar 29, 2002
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If any of you send your end mills out for resharpening could you please tell where to. I go through end mills. Mine will be mostly double end, two and four flute, 3/8 shank, HSS.

Thanks

RL
 
Have you tried carbide endmills? More expensive initially but long lasting - like bi-metal bandsaw blades. I've noticed that it isn't even possible to buy new wood router bits that are not carbide tipped.

If you are doing a lot of surface cutting you might consider an indexable end mill with replaceable cutters. Again, more expensive to start but a savings in the long run.
 
Thanks and no, not yet. I have found though that cobalt, while lasts a little longer, is not cost effective for what I am milling. An indexable mill is too large for what I am doing (not enough head space for one thing).

RL
 
Roger, I can't remember if you have a surface grinder or not. If so, there is a little tilt jig available for sharpening end mills with the proper relief that is not terribly expensive.

Many, if not most, machine shops will sharpen their own milling tools, so you may be able to find a place locally.

Good luck with it. I am ham-handed enough I usually end up breaking mills before they need resharpening. :(
 
I've chipped a few flutes myself. :) No, no surface grinder yet. Its on the list but Santa done said I been a bad boy this year.

RL
 
Fitzo,

Could you provide more info on the tilt jig for the surface grinder? Who makes them/sells them, etc.?
I'd love to be able to re-sharpen my end mills.
Thanks.

-Mike-
 
Mike, there are two kinds in the MSC catalog:

1) P/N 09465014 USA
09465030 Import

2) 09463019
bushings for fixed sizes extra

My catalog is 2 years old, so pricing best found at mscdirect.com

There may be cheaper places...I'd check Grizzly, too. I have no experience with these, just remembered 'em from cruising catalogs.

Hope that helps.
 
I'm having a mental block figuring out how to sharpen an end mill on a surface grinder. The flute edges wear too, not just the face. I don't know how that works. Don't matter now since I don't have the surface grinder anyhow. There are services on the net but I want to see what you guys say before I send them off into the wild blue yonder. I figured if any of us could offer good advice it would be Fitzo and Dan Gray. Thanks. Now I am more interested in a surface grinder than getting mills resharpened. Seems like just about every time I open my mouth it cost me money:grumpy:

RL
 
I would suspect those are for the ends, Roger. As soon as you grind flutes it's no longer at size. I've never tried it, but I wonder if one was really careful, could you sharpen flutes with the old chuck-it-in the-drill poor man's lathe and the slack belt? Otherwise, a metal lathe and toolpost grinder??? :D

You can buy a helluva lotta endmills on sale at MSC before hitting the cost of a surface grinder. They are boring, they are a PITA, a mess, and of only so much usefulness. You'll need a magnetic chuck, then you'll want a sine plate. Then, eventually, you'll realize what you REALLY want is a $3000 magnetic compound sine chuck and a set of sine bars. (I still want that danged sine chuck!!)

There, does that help a bit? :D Sorry, Roger, I really didn't mean to get you dreaming about new tools.... :)
 
Roger,

Check locally for a saw sharpening service. If they cannot do the work they should at least know who can.

Allen
 
I guess we can put this baby to bed, except that I might hope to hear from Dan Gray (the old tool and die maker). A surface grinder to me since I do NOT forge would only lend itself best to clean up of dirty bar stock received. My 1075 and CPM stuff comes with need of surface grinding (CPM stuff is a real jewel for sure - lots of pitting). And as you explain Fitzo, I suppose the money is in the tooling - just as wth a milling machine). Anyhow, I am buyng cheap HSS end mills, double end, from Enco for about 3 bucks per. On a 1075 blade I'll spend about 2 1/2 to 3 of those end mills, so about 9 bucks give or take per 1075 blade. I can do one or better O1 blades with one end mill (cheapo HSS). The diameter of mill, for what I am doing, is not critical. So a reasonable lose of radius does not hurt. I am cutting at a head angle of 45 degrees. It is the saw teeth on the spine I cut. I use a simple center cutting mill to do that but both face and flute are cutting at the same time. I cut down about 0.150 inch with about 15 passes to do so, or about 10 mil per pass. One of these days I will spit out the extra bucks to try carbide but, like you, I can be heavy handed and my limited experience with carbide is so far proven I have not the touch for it yet. Thanks guys.

RL
 
If you don't mind a question, Roger: do you think it's the factory anneal on the 1075 that makes it so tough to mill? "Rockwelled" any?
 
You're welcome, Mike. As discussed, they're probably for faces and not flutes. In my case, doesn't matter, as they usually end up with 1/4" busted off on guard-slots. Silly little micromill just chatters too much.
 
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