One my engineers drives past a machine shop supple shop on the way to work so he stops there a couple times a month with a list of stuff we need and he always calls for updates. Today he brought back a little pile of carbide end mills that were half the cost of HSS. They are made in USA. What's up with THIS! They weren't on sale. We don't use carbide often and we have one 5/16" that I bought 15 years ago. Is this normal costing?
No, you just got lucky.
i
I'm not sure - but the rules of economics still apply. If they make and sell a lot of the carbide ones, they can get the unit cost way down. And the materials cost drops too if you order big quantities.
Or they way over-ordered, had a special order fall through, etc. - and they'd rather blow them out than sit on 'em in inventory for several years.
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In the last few years, the cost of carbide endmills has really come down. I never buy anything except carbide for sizes below 1/2". The cost savings really isn't there for anything under that size. That's assuming your equipment is rigid enough to take advantage of the carbide. Carbide does not handle shock well. If you're machine isn't up to the task, HSS will actually last longer.
Brand-spankin' new Bridgeport and it seems perfect.
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