Sooooo many choices & Which one to use...End Mill?

Hankins

Hankins

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Dec 7, 2008
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Sooooo many choices & Which one to use...End Mill?
Want to cut some blood grooves in ATS34 blades...Which style type End mill should I use? Need something that will give a finished look as well
 
I would use something like a 3/8" 2 flute ball endmill for a medium sized fuller. Don't try to do it all in one pass, and lock your Y axis.

If I wanted something fancy I'd look for a helical gash, some kind of coating, and a geometry specifically for stainless. MSC's Accupro brand goes on sale a few times a month and some are available with geometry specifically for machining stainless. Actually, their aluminum milling cutters work well finishing stainless too.

OSG has some really good stuff for finishing milling in tough materials, but it is spendy.

If you're not planning on finishing it manually (sanding or stoning) after milling, this is one of the few times where I would actually use oil or neat coolant.
 
Ive had excellent luck using carbide tungsten cutters like the ones from dremmel.I use the cylindrical ones with cutters on the tip not the flat tip cutter and get them from enco for half what home depot charges.I run'em with coolant at 3000rpm and do it in one pass going very slowly.
 
After you cut the groove with a ball end mill, you can use Cratex mounted on an arbor to give it a nice finished look. It saves on hand sanding and removes the milling marks.
 
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