Nothing sucks a tool up in the spindle like a collet. I think Er 32 collets systems are great, but here I think simple is better for value for machining not tool size range clamping. Lyndex , Vertex and many others are reasonably priced for quality. Five might cost what a set or even a little more. The cutter will have a better chance to do it s duty. What you may spend on your collets you more than save in your cutters. Some of my general machining end mills have hours on them and still in good shape. Theres a sweet spot. Not just speeds and feeds cutters like. Whatever you do on your machine know what your doing. There s enough info out there to educate yourself at this point so you shouldn t think your going to crash a tool. Keep it simple if you have to but know what your doing.
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First Set End Mills???
- Thread starter Kroll
- Start date
I have an R8-ER25 collet chuck on my mill and like it alot. Changing tools is quicker, especially between shank sizes, and the larger range means that you can go between imperial and metric tools if you have both (metric end mills are often super cheap on amazon). Does take away some spindle to table room though and it's arguably less rigid than holding the tool in a collet in the spindle, but neither of those have been much of an issue so far.
Guys today my set of end mills showed up which is the first time for me to lay eyes on an end mill.I know I went with a set and they are not name brand but I believe they will do for playing around and making something out of aluminum and maybe some mild steel.Which I will be making some brackets that will have small slots and holes so I figure the set is needed.I also pick up couple more items such as a small collet set 1/8- 3/4 and set of 123 blocks.Anyway getting the box from the UPS guy who look very tired and just beat down,I didn't say anything about the box being little damage but not bad.So I open up the box being very excited about end mills I notice that three end mills were not in the wooden box.So I open up the wooden box and dang it,my first purchase of end mills and look what I get.The end mills are all good and very sharp,ouch!But the box they come in not so good,this is not how I wanted to start out,so I guess I will have to make myself another box but maybe better that will keep the end mills together.But I have learned that its better for steel end mills or drill bits to be held in place by metal and not wood due to moisture which wood attacts.Well heck
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Glad you got your cutters and other tools. If it were me, I wouldn't worry too much about the box being in bad shape. When I first started my home shop I kept my end mills in a cigar box. I always tell people to treat cutters like they were made out of glass... don't bang them together, or rattle them around against each other. But, I think you'll find that most just keep theirs in boxes or something similar. Just be careful with them. Now, don't get me wrong. It's "best" to keep them in tubes or keep them separated somehow to they don't touch each other, but in practice, I don't think there are many who actually do, especially after you've picked up a few hundred or more of them! 
So now you'll have to start learning about feeds and speeds. Using too high of a speed will kill your cutter very quickly. Speed and feed charts are all over the internet. They typically state the highest suggested speed or a speed range with a very rigid setup and ideal conditions. I seldom run them that fast... especially the import cutters. So, if they say 100 SFM for HSS, I would probably run them around 60-70 SFM tops. You'll get a lot better life out of them. Others may disagree, but this is what I do. Also, I will always conventional mill. I never climb mill unless it's a very fine finish pass, like 0.005" tops DOC. These older machines like yours and mine would teach you in a hurry why I'm suggesting this!
Have fun!
Ted
So now you'll have to start learning about feeds and speeds. Using too high of a speed will kill your cutter very quickly. Speed and feed charts are all over the internet. They typically state the highest suggested speed or a speed range with a very rigid setup and ideal conditions. I seldom run them that fast... especially the import cutters. So, if they say 100 SFM for HSS, I would probably run them around 60-70 SFM tops. You'll get a lot better life out of them. Others may disagree, but this is what I do. Also, I will always conventional mill. I never climb mill unless it's a very fine finish pass, like 0.005" tops DOC. These older machines like yours and mine would teach you in a hurry why I'm suggesting this!
Have fun!
Ted
Ted has excellent advice. Especially about the speeds.
Sure can be. I made some small drill press adjustable stops for my neighbor out of some. Cuts like butter.
Ted