milling cutters

[Kurt Johnson]

What would be the best cutters to get to make up a beginners set for a mill with regards to a ship modelers needs? Ones that would likely be most often used? 

 

Kurt

Quote

 

 

[Bob Cleek]

More experienced machinists than I will probably have more specific recommendations, but I'd note that it will in the first instance depend upon the scale and the materials you are working with, which is probably obvious. If you are planning on working primarily with wood, I'd expect that you wouldn't be needing to mill any large flat faces. That would be addressed by a hand plane, thickness sander, or table saw. Again, obviously, the various end mill shapes you'd want for woodworking would be determined by the shapes you wanted to cut. Considering that one can easily pay $75 for a 1/8" carbide end mill, I'd suggest that you buy them as you need them rather than by buying a fully incrementally-sized set of them unless you are sure you will find a use for all the pieces in the set. A pass and a half with a 1/8" bit will yield a 3/16" cut, two passes 1/4",and so on, so the number of end mills one needs to buy can be reduced in that fashion by the occasional user who can afford the time to make multiple cuts, a luxury not enjoyed by the master machinist working in a production shop where "time is money." 

 

Some hobby catalogs offer lower quality "sets" of miniature mills and router bits at somewhat reasonable prices, but you'll be lucky if you ever have a use for more than three-quarters of the bits in these sets, so they aren't particularly economical in my opinion. If you are working in wood, you may find some low-quality mills and bits that are adequate for modeling use, but you get what you pay for. A mill or bit that dulls and must be replaced in short order is a poor investment. If you buy mills and bits as you need them, as the professionals do, the insult to the pocketbook is less and your collection will eventually build to the point where you are well-equipped for the specific sort of work you generally do without having spent money on tooling you didn't need.

 

Some of the bits and mills marketed by Dremel and their equivalents are adequate for limited hobby wood milling. Don't expect them to last for long, but if the job is small and you are not likely to ever need that bit again, there's no need to pay the big bucks for the professional grade products.

 

There are lots of on-line mill and bit retailers. Below are a couple with particularly large selections. Shopping around is often worth one's time. Quality bits are made by a few companies and the retailers' prices often vary for the same item. If other forumites have personal experience with retailers they can recommend, their posting those links would be most helpful.

 

https://www.toolstoday.com/router-bits/miniature-router-bits.html

http://www.harveytool.com/cat/Miniature-End-Mills/Browse-Our-Products_254.aspx

Edited July 19, 2019 by Bob Cleek

[Jaager]

Kurt,

This is suggesting a course that I do not take - too compulsive - too much a pack rat =

Wait until you get to the point in a build where a specific cut is needed and get that size.

 

Unless one of our more widely ranging members points to a superior vendor,  I default to Wood Carvers Supply.

[Chuck]

Kurt...I have a bunch.  You can always use mine and come pick them up when you need them.  Good ones are expensive.  I have a lot of them and hardly use them because I prefer to do most work by hand.  Next time you come to the shop you can check them out.

 

Chuck

[Kurt Johnson]

Sounds like a deal. Thanks Chuck.

 

Kurt

[wefalck]

Perhaps you can tell us, what kind of mill you are talking about and what materials you intend to work with ?

 

In general, I would stay away from hobby-shop stuff. They buy (bulk) the things that are available elsewhere too and there you normally get information on what you are actually buying.

 

There are three main categories of tool material in general use today: chrome-vanadium steel (CV), high-speed steel (HSS), and carbides. The typical bits with 2.4 mm or 1/8" shank are usually CV, which accounts for their quickly becoming dull, when working on ferrous metals or wood. HSS is the better option for mills and drills. Carbide mills and drills have a much keener edge, but a more brittle and less forgiving than HSS. However, carbide mills and drills can be found quite cheaply e.g. on ebay due to the fact that factories replace them in their production processes before they become actually dull. They are still good enough for our puposes then.

 

Otherwise, more information would give you better quality answers.

[Kurt Johnson]

I have a Sherline mill that I purchased 20 years ago, not CNC. I’ve never really used  it, couldn’t find the time to learn the correct way. Now I have time, just wanted to get some use from it. Mainly joints and maybe producing gun carriages, things like that. Doubt any metal work at this point.

 

Kurt

 

[wefalck]

For wood, you should look for 2-flute carbide endmills then. The ones with 1/8" shaft are easy to find on ebay in diameters up from 1 mm to 3.2 mm, i.e. 1/8", and cheap. Larger diameters tend to be more expensive.

 

These carbide endmills are not really suitable for steel, but can be used on brass and aluminium, as well as on plastics, such as acrylic glass.

 

For milling on bevels and V-grooves, you can also use single-lip carbide engraving cutters, again with 1/8" shaft. They can be also sourced quite cheaply on ebay.

 

For milling half-round fillets and flutes, there are 2-fluted ball-nose end-mills in carbide. Same source again.

 

On ebay you can also find small wood-working routers with 1/8" shafts as sets at a low price. Some of them may be only CV steel, so they may not last too long.

[Mike Y]

I am pretty much a milling newbie, but I had a very good experience with Proxxon cutters that they recommend for their MF70 mill. Used them primarily for hardwoods, sometimes plastics or brass, from small precision joints to cutting long grooves. They leave a nice finish, both on the side and in the bottom, really cutting the wood instead of scratching it like some other types of cutters. All other cutters that I have are waaay worse (dremel, etc). Of course, I guess some industrial grade cutters would be better, but at a price around 20 dollars for a set of 3 the proxxon ones are a good start.

 

Now I only use these (except when I need some special shapes), they are still sharp as new, and I haven't broke a single bit so far. Very noob friendly!

 

 

Edited July 28, 2019 by Mike Y