What endmill? many choices

[ChrioN]

#1:

Good for sideloads?


#2:

Ordinary stuff.


#3:

Tin-coated...

which one?

[LiquidRulez]

depends on what youre milling and what youre milling with.without those parameters, i cant give you any suggestions.

[ChrioN]

This mill:


I'm going to mill Al and Cu.

[Fixittt]

The first one is a roughing endmill, it eats up material like there is no tomarrow, but the finish is crappy, The middle is a regular endmill. Leaves a nice finish.

The tin coating makes them last a little longer under normal use. But I can amagine (No offence intended) that until you get used to the machine and learn what you can and cannot do you will be wearing them out and breaking them on a regular basis. So stay with the cheap high speed steel (HSS) endmills.

Also #3 is a 3 flute endmill. With only 3 cutting surfaces you have les of a chip load per cutting area, so they will not get clogges as easy as the 4 flute endmills. Very good for long cuts.

You will also find that carbide endmills are very strong. And used correctly (see above statment) will last a long time. But the price reflects this.

Also youa re going to need a good fly cutter. For removing large amounts of surface area and for making parts flat. Also a good vise is a MUST. And as a recomendation, I would get a vise that has holes drilled thrue the jaws so Soft jaws (bolt on /throw away aluminum jaws can be bolted to them.) They are good because you can machine steps into them for holding parts that do not sit on the bottom of the vise, such as water blocks. When you bolt the soft jaws to the vise you can machine the step so that the part will sit flat. U can always use parralles but they are expensive and you can loose them.


Also you need to think about some soft of cooling method. Spray mist cooling is good for manual mills. Although if not contained somehow will make a mess on the floor. Also It would be wise to make some sort of wall that will go behind the mill, and bot sides of the mill to help contain chips. They will accumalate (SP) very quickly.

[LiquidRulez]

i couldnt have said it any better Fixitt!
but i will say one other thing...........when you buy your endmills, try to find them with a 45 degree helix. i havent tried anything higher than that so i dont know what the end result would be.
Fixitt.....you ever use anything higher than a 45 degree helix??any better??

[jaydee]

Originally posted by LiquidRulez
i couldnt have said it any better Fixitt!
but i will say one other thing...........when you buy your endmills, try to find them with a 45 degree helix. i havent tried anything higher than that so i dont know what the end result would be.
Fixitt.....you ever use anything higher than a 45 degree helix??any better??

Waht is the helix?

[jaydee]

Here are some 60 degree ones: http://www.rlschmitt.com/High%20Helix%20End%20Mills.htm

[ChrioN]

fly cutter? whats that? I don't understand entierly what you mean. How do them look? Is it a flutemill with a huge diameter or stuffs you use to mill wood? Give me a picture please

[LiquidRulez]

Originally posted by ChrioN
fly cutter? whats that? I don't understand entierly what you mean. How do them look? Is it a flutemill with a huge diameter or stuffs you use to mill wood? Give me a picture please

hers some pics to help you better understand what the difference between a end mill designed for non ferrous metals such as Al and Cu,and a standard helix end mill
45 degree helix end mill on left standard end mill on right

[LiquidRulez]

and heres a shot of a "cheapo" fly cutter

[ChrioN]

thanks for all the support.
I wounder what the Swedish word for "fly-cutter" is....I don't want to go in to a Swedish shop and ask för a fly-cutter you know

[LiquidRulez]

Originally posted by ChrioN
thanks for all the support.
I wounder what the Swedish word for "fly-cutter" is....I don't want to go in to a Swedish shop and ask för a fly-cutter you know

take him the picture instead...no talking needed!

[LiquidRulez]

here it is

[Fixittt]

As you can see from the above pic ... that is a fly cutter. Now picture it upside down from the pic. Mounted in the check of a mill.


The long skinny part is the cutter, it is a small peice of carbide brazed to the steel shank. It is ground into variouse shape. As it spins, you drag it along the material. Normall about .300 to .500 (1/2 in) below the parts top. It basicly WHACKS away material in single passes. Making the part thinner, and also flat (if the mill table, vise and vise jaws are all flat)

Hope you can get a mental pic of what I just said.

[ChrioN]

Now I know what it is!
My friend used it while milling my old block!
that thing was huge like 50mm (2") diameter!
Thank you for the memoryrefreshener

[LiquidRulez]

thanks FIXITT for clarifying that for me. i was gonna mount it in the collet but i was in a hurry and it was about 4 AM in tha morning

[jaydee]

Originally posted by LiquidRulez
hers some pics to help you better understand what the difference between a end mill designed for non ferrous metals such as Al and Cu,and a standard helix end mill
45 degree helix end mill on left standard end mill on right

I am going to have to look into this. I knew there where better end mills for Copper like tin coated and carbide, but I didn't know this helix deal. I want to get into milling Copper but my mill doesn't like to do it with standard end mills. I once has a tin coated 4 flute that cut copper like butter but I broke it (don't ask ). I just hate paying $20-30 each for a single sided endmill.

[LiquidRulez]

check out this site for end mills..........click here
i get most of my stuff here and they got some great prices on high helix Al. end mills and give excellent customer service.
fast shipping also.
they also ship outside the U.S.
they got just about everything you need in tooling.
there import endmills are just as good quality as high dollar end mills at a significantly lower price to boot! With exception of there "mill monster" brand(they are very good quality solid carbide end mills.IMHO, they hold there sharpness much longer than any other brand ive tried)(and ive been through hundreds of them(theres that learning curve!)
i dont even bother with the U.S.A. brands anymore because i cant tell the difference when they break! i can break 2 or 3 solid carbide chinese end mills for the price of one "Quality" USA brand
you will be breaking quite a few of them too!
i only buy mill monster USA brand when i need small diameters because of there superior strength compared to other brands made in USA.
Hope this helps ya in your, soon to be, never ending search for a better and stronger end mill.

you will be breaking quite a few of them too

[Fixittt]

Ohh yeah, I love wholesale tool!!!!! We got one here in Tulsa, so I get to go in and buy and walk aout with my tools!