COST ESTIMATION- CARBIDE END MILLS

The non-standard sizes and especially custom shapes are the ones we have made by local tool shops. I gladly pay a premium to get anything NOT made in China. Quick turnaround and accurate adherence to my specs ensures continuance of local acquisition. Laser marking of my part numbers on the custom tools is a nice extra!

I agree completely with DKWARNER, and will add a few comments of my own. The purchase cost of the cutter is the last thing to consider when purchasing endmills. Every cutter you will ever use in machining is what I call a compormise of conditions. There is no perfect cutter, only the best available. You must consider your machine, tool holders, setup, material and the configuration of the part to be machined. Then select the size and shape configuration best suited to the job. Next consider the quality of the grind. Every time I pick up a cutter both before and after use I look at it through a 10 power loupe. If you do this you get an education about cutters like that you can't buy at any price. By this inspection you will discover what brands are good and what brands are junk. You will also discover the effect your machining feeds and speeds and techniques on different materials have on the cutters. You will also consider the quality level of the carbide material and different coatings. You will find through this process that all brands of cutters are not created equal. Once you are convinced you have your process tuned in to it's best condition, you can compare different brands to see which one gives you the best quality finish and yeild while maintaining tolerence. Shop to find those cutters at the best price and then you can calculate the cost. No matter what country it comes from, a poorly gorund cutter made from inferior material is not worth having no matter how cheap the price. Never sacrifice the quality of your work for a cheap cutter!

Here are some of my preferred brands which come from various countries: OSG, Hanita, Iscar, Acupro, New England Tool, Destiny, Promax, Micro 100, Harveyand Kennametal. These are not in any order and usage depends on the application and of course what I can find on sale or at a discount. There are other popular brands that I have left out because, although they look good and may be available at a good price, they did not perform as well as the others in production.

Please contact "Carbide end mills" manufacturers e.g. Sandvik, Mitsubishi, Iscar, Kenametal, ..... for more informations.

Good luck,

Hello,

An excellent manufacturer of carbide endmills is Quinco Tool Products

http://www.quinco.com/

We prep all types of tools with the Conicity EMG edge prep. As part of our package when customers sign a lease for our EZ machines, we prep tools for a discount until they take delivery. I have seen about 500 Quince endmills come through so far this month and I can assure you they are of the highest quality. Quinco is one of the few tool making companies aggressively pursing our technology despite the fact increased life results in a drop in tool sales.

Ask them for endmills with the EMG technology applied and let the performance speak for itself. The ratio of cost versus performance using EMG technology has taken cost calculation of endmills to a new level....meaning you are going to get some bang for your buck!!!

Thanks...Steve

I hope this reflects an improvement in quality for Quinco. In the past I had salesmen try to sell them to me. I would pull out an OSG or another brand that I was using and ask the salesman to compare them under magnification and tell me which one he would buy. At that time it would not have been a Quinco. Those were HSS cutters, but the grinds were terrible. That was a long time ago and I would be pleased to hear that their quality has improved.

Hi Gary,

I know Quinco switched a lot of their production capabilities to carbide and these are the types of endmills I've seen come through. I can't speak for the quality of their HSS endmills since I've never seen one. I can assure you the grinds on their carbide endmills are on par with the top producers in the USA.

Thanks for your comment. Keep a eye out for Quinco carbide endmills with the Conicity EMG edge prep.

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