End Mill / Slot Drill sets

Hi,

I'm in the throes of buying tooling for my first ever mill and I see J&L have sets of HSS slot drills and end mills at reduced prices atm. The slot drills are a set of 6 for =A316.45 (3,4,6,8,10,12mm) and the end mills are a set of 10 for =A333.95 (4,5,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20mm). What is the opinion of the group on these sets ? Am I likely to use all these sizes eventually or would it be better to buy fewer (maybe different) pieces and add to them as time goes on ?

Also, what other cutters am I likely to need almost immediately ? (Application is model IC engines).

Thanks,

David

Reply to
mangled_us
Loading thread data ...

I'm in the throes of buying tooling for my first ever mill and I see J&L have sets of HSS slot drills and end mills at reduced prices atm. The slot drills are a set of 6 for £16.45 (3,4,6,8,10,12mm) and the end mills are a set of 10 for £33.95 (4,5,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20mm). What is the opinion of the group on these sets ? Am I likely to use all these sizes eventually or would it be better to buy fewer (maybe different) pieces and add to them as time goes on ?

Also, what other cutters am I likely to need almost immediately ? (Application is model IC engines).

J&L have end mills and slot drills on more or less permanent discount. If you phone them, they will put you on their mail list and send you a new discount list every month.

What you buy depends on what you have to hold them with. If you are using a Clarkson type chuck then you can only hold cutters with shank diameters for which you have a collet. If you have an ER type chuck with a full collet set then you can hold pretty much any size up to the capacity of the collets.

J&L's delivery is very fast indeed - personally I'd buy what you need when you need it.

Norman Billingham

Reply to
Norman Billingham

J&L do next day delivery, so I tend to work out what I'm going to over a month say and then buy specifically the tooling needed (they eMail special offers almost every week) , rather than sets. I use 12mm end mills far more often than any other size and break more 3mm slot drills than any other size! I'm just in this for fun - no heavy duty projects so sets of things don't really work out for me.

The end mill set you identify I would not have used over the year the

14,16,18 or 20mm sizes, though I have a potential job where the 20mm will come in. Equally I would have had no use for the 5, 8 or 10mm sizes but have had to buy four more 12mm and extra 4 and 6mm sizes.

Just make sure you are buying what you need or else its less of a bargain.

Steve

Reply to
Steve

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.