Carbide burrs?

John Conroy

John Conroy

member
Premium Member
There are big differences in carbide burrs for different materials. Diamond cut ones are good for fast material removal on hard metals, plain cut are for softer ferrous metals and then there are special ones for aluminum. I buy mine individually from KBC usually, watch for them to come on sale in their monthly flyer.
 
Dabbler

Dabbler

ersatz engineer
Although cheaper carbide can do the job, carbide is something where quality must cost. True C5 or C6 carbide cutters cost $$. I usually use branded (Kinnemental) inserts because they last longer and stay sharper. I've also had cheaper carbides crumble under very light use. The odd inexpensive carbides (from India) seem to hold up very well.

Why I'm saying all this, is because it is probably worth the risk to go cheaper, as long as you are willing to effectively trash them if they are poorly made.

(I think you made a mistake on the first link)
 
schor

schor

Active Member
I got lucky and got a bunch of carbide burrs from my FIL who worked at GM back in the day. They tossed them on a regular basis if they were worn or not. These things will eat everything in their path.

I guess it depends on how much use you will get out of them. If your seldom using them then cheaper ones might be ok, but quality ones will handle it if your doing it every day.
 
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PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
I haven't a clue if these are good or bad. But it wouldn't be the first time I discovered a NAm distributer was flogging essentially the same thing under a different label at 2-3X the price. Unless it specifically says a recognizable brand that you prefer, tooling can come from dang near anywhere even with bigger name distributers like, KBC, Travers. I'd be shocked if KMS was not an Asian import. But that may not be bad. I bought a set of 1-6mm 3-flute carbide ball end mills from Ali which are not very common here. They are razor sharp & cut beautifully. For a grand sum of 42$. I've gotten burned the odd time with not-so-good cutters, but amazingly have had good luck with carbide tooling. If you are not in a panic time wise & the price is right, I'd roll the dice. You might be pleasantly surprised.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5Pc..._9&btsid=041bad2a-b254-43c7-85da-8c9b394c7fe8
 
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PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Another happy tip. I was buzzing away lightly carving at some aluminum with a smaller scale version of those burrs in my Dremel. I'm not sure why but the chips really aggravated my skin, like itchy & starting to get little welts. I'm around swarf enough to know I'm not allergic or anything. Maybe that particular tooth cutting profile makes slivery sharp cuttings or a certain chip shape? Not sure but next time out comes the rubber gloves & goggles too, don't want them thingy's in my eyes.
 
Dabbler

Dabbler

ersatz engineer
I'm really interested in your experience. Always looking for a more cost effective bit of tooling!
 
Janger

Janger

(John)
Administrator
Vendor
The burrs arrived and they seem pretty good. Did some clean up briefly on some welding. Work fine and are still in good shape.
 
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PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Just as an aside, I had to do some cleanup on some cast iron parts, nasty hard sh*t. These mounted stone wheels came in handy. The are quite inexpensive & come in all kinds of shapes & grits. Consider some on questionable material to preserve your burrs.
http://www.traverscanada.com/34group-a34-14-shanks/p/48012/?keyword=mounted+stone

On another note, I ordered this lighter duty die grinder that came on sale. Christmas pre-emptive strike, ha-ha!
https://www.amazon.ca/Bosch-DG250C-...-1&keywords=Bosch+DG250C+120-Volt+Die+Grinder
The big ones are just too much power/weight/$$ for my needs & my poor little Dremel is getting abused. What I also liked about this Bosch is it has a short compact neck machined circular, I have some secret squirrel projects in mind. Of course, AFTER I ordered it, I realized in that the Amazon description about variable speed is incorrect. Dangit! It might not be a bad thing, but something I would have preferred. Has anyone ever returned an Amazon item? Is it a PITA?
 
Alexander

Alexander

Ultra Member
Administrator
@PeterT that bosch grinder looks perfect. Not too expensive either. I bet you will like it if you keep it. The variable speed is nice in theory but might go wrong with all the metal dust that thing will be exposed to.
 
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PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Yeah that was my choice until I started my usual over-thinking. There is another version of that (GD0800C) also vari-speed with similar extended handle/arbor barrel but a smooth machined finish as opposed to what looks like rubber grip. If your weren't intending to mount it to anything, probably GD0601 is the choice. I have this black box that varies speed of motor devices but I'm told that's kind of old school - it can mess with more modern machines with internally circuitry that vary/compensate power based on load to maintain the spec rpm.

btw, Blackrock has good selection of die grinders & free CDN shipping over $C149
https://www.blackrocktools.com/advancedsearch/result/?q=die+grinder
 
Jwest7788

Jwest7788

Joshua West
Administrator
Just ordered the cheapest air die grinder I could find ($35 including an assortment of bits) and some cheap chinese carbide burrs.

Total so far is $45 CAD. -- the carbide will take a bit to arrive, but I plan on stress testing the setup, will report back once I push everything to it's limits.
----> I have access to sufficient air, so I would be keen to see how a cheap air grinder competes with a higher end electric. (Should be a fun comparison)

@Janger --> I challenge you to some sort of die grinder challenge in the new year. :)
 
Alexander

Alexander

Ultra Member
Administrator
PeterT said:
I have this black box that varies speed of motor devices but I'm told that's kind of old school
Click to expand...
I liked the idea of using some sort of rheostat to vary the speed of a grinder so i bought one today for playing with. The horizontal box is the one i found on kijiji. It seems to vary voltage from .5v to 150v.
 

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Jwest7788

Jwest7788

Joshua West
Administrator
Alexander said:
I liked the idea of using some sort of rheostat to vary the speed of a grinder so i bought one today for playing with. The horizontal box is the one i found on kijiji. It seems to vary voltage from .5v to 150v.
Click to expand...
Would this be a solution?



Also, Got my burrs in now. They're only 1/8" shank, which is a let down. I guess the 1/4" they reference was the head size. I'm going to order some more so I have 1/4" shank carbide burrs too, but @Janger @Alexander, we should pick a time to do hat fun head to head. Shoot me a text and we can plan a time.

Anyone else who wants to come is welcome too, just drop me a line and we can coordinate a date and time.

JW
 
Janger

Janger

(John)
Administrator
Vendor
Saturday-11am? Josh's shop. ? And we can talk about welding tables and machine skates.
 
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