Small Diameter 2 And 4 Flute End Mill Sets?

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Some time ago I picked up one of the HF mini mills, and it's time to get some new end mills for it. I've been looking at the various sets available, and I saw that HF and LMS both offered sets that include 2 and 4 flute cutters, but they both go up to 3/4", including several sizes that I likely won't be using (the guy I bought it from included a 5/8" and 3/4" end mill, and it's plainly obvious that this machine won't like running those given that 95% of my work is on steel parts...yes, I'm aware that I _should_ be using a larger machine to begin with on steel parts, but my current finances nor available space will allow me to do so).

Realistically, I could get by on a kit that included 1/8", 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2", and I see that LMS has a couple individual sets that would cover this (one set of 2 flutes, and another of 4 flutes). Are there better options out there? I've been looking at Amazon, and a few other places, and it's a bewildering array of available stuff. Last time I bought machine tools was about 20 years ago, and there was a supplier a couple miles from the house - I told them what I was doing, and they handed me tooling that worked. Now I'm a bit lost, and I don't know if I'm buying decent stuff, or relabled crap that I'll be buying again in a month's time.
 
Congratulations!
Niagara and Seco make good quality tooling, you may wish to look at their selection
JTS Machinery & Tool Supply is a vendor i have purchased many things from.
you may wish to consider some carbide tooling for tougher steels
 
I've found that searching for individual ( or groups of the same ) end mills on Ebay to be more rewarding than buying sets. A couple of years ago I bought about 25 new double end 5/32 (3/16 shank) two flute end mills for about $25.00. That's more than I'll ever need of that size, but by the same token, I'll never run out. And for a buck apiece I can't go wrong. I've also found 5/16 TiN coated single end four flute end mills, ten in a package for less than $1 each. I don't buy sets, I buy what I need, or can use. For instance, a set of drill bits will have some I'll never use.
 
I would agree with Tom. Rather than sets I would purchase mills as needed in the sizes you need for projects.
CDCO has good pricing on HSS cutters.
 
At this point, I'm not really sure what I'll need or will use, with the exception of I'm pretty sure that I'll never use a 3/4" end mill on this small machine, lol. On the other hand, the vast majority of my planned work on this mill is knocking out quick pieces on the fly as I'm doing various automotive projects. For the past couple of decades I've mainly made do with things like a drill press, angle grinder, and Dremel tool, and it worked OK, but I've wanted to make slightly cleaner/better looking stuff for a while now.

My thinking was to pick up a few sets of various general purpose style cutters to have stuff on hand rather than coming up against a part that needs to be modified or made, and having to stop work for a week or so while individual bits arrives. I know it will happen eventually anyways, but I figured I could at least knock off most of my needs with a handful of regular center cutting end mills, a fly cutter, and the few slitting cutters I already have. Or maybe they're key way cutters..I'm not sure, but they made a handy slot in a bracket the other day, lol.

Once I get a better idea of what I'll be using most often, I can concentrate on those pieces later on.
 
If the price is what you want the LMS sets are not bad quality for the price. They typically sell what works on their machines. I have purchased high quality brands elsewhere and you can see and feel the difference. But the price is much higher.
 
We had one of the many 'quality' discussions about import endmills some time back. One of the regulars said that he bought the ebay sets and had good luck with them. I wish I could remember who, but I do remember that it was one with over a thousand posts. I had a X2 without a tach, so I would get carried away and burn up cutters. Low cost looked good, so I tried them. He was right. They last as long on aluminum, cast iron, and steel as the high dollar ones. Every once in a while I run into one with odd edge geometry that takes more oomph to cut, but not often. I get the sets with 1/8 - 5/8 cutters for less than $10. They are straight shank, so I had to get a 3/16 R-8 collet. I see now that you can get sets with 3/8 shanks on the smaller mills. I might get those on the next order. That way I can use the same collet for most things. That 3/4 inch mill might be useful after all. Use it for facing where you aren't trying to remove cubic inches of material. I have converted the X2 to CNC and find that all of my cutters cut smoother now while under machine control than with my previous bio-based feed mechanism.
 
I don't disagree with the power feed either...I've noticed my lathe will pull off a noticeably better finish on power feed that I will get by hand feeding the carriage.

I suspect that even the relatively cheap imported cutters will produce a better finish than my current methods of "bounce the angle grinder off of it until it fits, and/or make it fit via sledge hammer", lol. So I'm thinking that I could likely get a couple of the smaller imported sets of end mills, and if I find that I'm using a couple more often than the others, replace them with the better stuff as they wear out or buy the multiple packs of those particular sizes.
 
I did end up finding a relatively local supplier today that would sell individual end mills to the general public, and had surprisingly inexpensive costs on USA made carbide end mills. I picked up a 1/8", 1/4", and 3/8" 4 flute end mills, and whoa....these things DO cut nicely. Just did a few quick passes on a chunk of steel, and found that I could acheive a surface finish far better than expected out of this fine chunk of Chinese iron. I also found that tramming the head will be my next learning phase, as it's a degree or so out of square. But still a heck of a lot better than what I've been doing, lol.
 
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