Need New End Mills For My G0704

[outsider347]

I've used up moat of my cheep/china end mills and looking to buy some better tooling. I use my 704 manually on mild steel mostly & looking to replace standard sizes.
Suggestions appreciated
tks
ed

 

[JimDawson]

I recommend keeping a stock of the cheap endmills for utility use. I find that the China endmills work almost as well as the good HSS stuff but some are not sharpened correctly. I buy the Harbor Freight sets with the 20% off coupons. I also use solid carbide and carbide tipped router bits, normally 1/2 inch shank where possible. Then I also buy solid carbide end mills, normally in 1/2 and 3/8 inch sizes.

Enco and MSC are the best for mail order. Last I looked, the Enco web site was still working. https://www.use-enco.com/

 

[Subwayrocket]

Keep an eye on Flea bay for NOS , new old stock M42 end mills . They go cheaper because they're not carbide but they do good in steel and will cut stainless . And if you need drills, Drill Hog USA sells M42 drills at a good price.

 

[outsider347]

Will do subwayrocket.
Jim. How do you decide which to use? quality carbide? cheepo utility hss

If I spend the $$ for carbide What would be the benefits with using on my little 0704?

Tks Gents
ed

 

[Charles Spencer]

Even if you get some better tooling I'd still keep some Chinese end mills around. For under $7 you can't go wrong.

http://www.banggood.com/5pcs-468101...r-HSS-Straight-Shank-Drill-Bits-p-995505.html

I use these whenever I want to spare my American made end mills.

 

[JimDawson]

How do you decide which to use? quality carbide? cheepo utility hss

For rough/non-critical work I am most likely to grab cheap HSS. For fine finishing and profiling parts I am most likely to use carbide. And of course for tool steels and stainless I normally use carbide. This is not to say that you can't do accurate work with cheap end mills, but the carbides stay sharp longer. I have a few good HSS end mills, but normally don't buy any but aluminum cutting types in longer lengths because I work in a lot of aluminum.

If I spend the $$ for carbide What would be the benefits with using on my little 0704?

In thinking about this a bit, carbide may not be appropriate for your machine. Carbide requires rigid setups and minimal backlash to prevent breakage. Carbide tools are much less forgiving the HSS. Try a 1/4 inch solid carbide router bit in your machine and see how it reacts, available at you local hardware store for about $20 Router bits have a slightly different geometry than end mills, and the web is a bit smaller, but still work well.

 

[Subwayrocket]

The M42 is a lot less likely to break than carbide, and cheaper ...a buddy of mine who does home milling and runs a cnc for a living suggested against carbide for me for that reason .
I do have a few shars indexable end mills that take carbide inserts. Both the indexed carbide and M42 worked well in stainless and steels . The inserts can be found cheap on ebay .
Good luck Ed !

 

[outsider347]

Tks Charles Can't go wrong at that $$$
Tks subwayrocket. makes sense to me
Flute question.
I've been using 2 flute style....because I really don't know why

2 Flute-- application?
3 " " ?
4 " " ?
5 ?
6 ?

 

[JR49]

Even if you get some better tooling I'd still keep some Chinese end mills around. For under $7 you can't go wrong.

http://www.banggood.com/5pcs-468101...r-HSS-Straight-Shank-Drill-Bits-p-995505.html

I use these whenever I want to spare my American made end mills.

Charles, the end mills you linked to are very tempting, but they are metric sizes. Do you have metric collets for them or do the close fractional sizes work? On a side note--I lived about 25 miles north of you (Fitchburg, Ma.) till I was 27 hated the winters, been in Ca. ever since. Thanks JR49

 

[JR49]

Tks Charles Can't go wrong at that $$$
Tks subwayrocket. makes sense to me
Flute question.
I've been using 2 flute style....because I really don't know why

2 Flute-- application?
3 " " ?
4 " " ?
5 ?
6 ?

Great question, Outsider, as a newbie, I thought "2 flute for aluminum- 4 flute for steel" . But just yesterday, I needed to cut some 1/4" slots in a 2" dia. steel pipe and wanted to plunge into it, only had a 2 flute center cutting end mill in 1/4", so I used that, and it worked very well! Maybe, some of the "pros" could help us newbies out with a Flute Application Post. Happy Machining, JR49