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Source for both end mills and drill bits?
- Thread starter Jason Fry
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- Sep 29, 2009
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I watch MSC for their specials, you can get pretty good deals on them when they're on sale. I always buy carbide.
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MSC if you want higher grade tooling. WB
Good to see you around, Raymond. Your work really inspired me back when I was starting this journey ten years ago.
kuraki
Fimbulvetr Knifeworks
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Usually pretty freakin easy to go on ebay, search for your tooling, click the "North America" only box, and then sort by price+shipping.
Any USA made carbide end mills (I like Al-Tin coated) are gonna be good to great, same with drills, although I like both bright HSS and oxide coated ones, depending on the task. My favorite are Drillco Nitro twist drills for general stuff (may or may not be available on ebay), but I've start using a lot of solid carbide drills in straight flute notched tip or standard twist config.
After a few sessions, you'll start to get an idea what brands are premium and which are less so, but there are TONS of options for domestically produced solid carbide of premium quality, because many large machining outfits started producing their own, and selling on the side to help cover the costs of tooling up for that.
I see absolutely no reason to waste your time with import crap (and most of the India/China/etc import are crap), unless it's Widia/Hanita or some european premium import for a great price, but usually, it's not.
You'll often get premium USA tooling on ebay, for cheaper than import junk from MSC, Travers, Grizzly, etc, if you're willing to invest just a little bit of effort. Once you get proficient, you can often buy the same stuff from the same sellers, but regardless, I can find something on ebay usually quicker than I can from one of those other websites. As far as specific brands, I've been super happy with everything from BestCarbide (their coating is really good) I've gotten there, along with any of the big names like Niagara, SGS, Fastcut, Monster, etc.
Any USA made carbide end mills (I like Al-Tin coated) are gonna be good to great, same with drills, although I like both bright HSS and oxide coated ones, depending on the task. My favorite are Drillco Nitro twist drills for general stuff (may or may not be available on ebay), but I've start using a lot of solid carbide drills in straight flute notched tip or standard twist config.
After a few sessions, you'll start to get an idea what brands are premium and which are less so, but there are TONS of options for domestically produced solid carbide of premium quality, because many large machining outfits started producing their own, and selling on the side to help cover the costs of tooling up for that.
I see absolutely no reason to waste your time with import crap (and most of the India/China/etc import are crap), unless it's Widia/Hanita or some european premium import for a great price, but usually, it's not.
You'll often get premium USA tooling on ebay, for cheaper than import junk from MSC, Travers, Grizzly, etc, if you're willing to invest just a little bit of effort. Once you get proficient, you can often buy the same stuff from the same sellers, but regardless, I can find something on ebay usually quicker than I can from one of those other websites. As far as specific brands, I've been super happy with everything from BestCarbide (their coating is really good) I've gotten there, along with any of the big names like Niagara, SGS, Fastcut, Monster, etc.
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- May 6, 2009
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What Javan said plus the bits and end mills that Jantz sells are fine for most of my use and I don't have to pay an extra shipping charge if I'm already ordering other things. Also, as close as we are to Jantz, regular shipping is only 2 days, sometimes next day.
Give McMaster-carr (https://www.mcmaster.com/) a try, especially for bits. They've got a good selection of USA bits, I like the Short-Length Drill Bits. McMaster is VERY reasonable on shipping charges.