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Chinese end mills

M

Megar arc 5040dd

Well-Known Member
Just wondering what peoples experience with Chinese end mills are? Does anyone have a seller on aliexpress that they use and like? I once bought some chinese HSS end mills off amazon that weren't fit for cutting plastic they we so soft. I have heard mixed things about cheap carbide end mills. Just want to know what people have ordered that did the job or that you are actually happy with. When I go on aliexpress there is just an overwhelming amount of options for this and I don't want to wast money on stuff that won't work at all if I can avoid it. I do recognize that this is far from great quality but I don't use my mill tons so would like to find an affordable option for the times I do use it.
 
My experience with chinese end mills is don't waste your money on them. Travers tool Canada and KBC tools sell cheap carbide endmills in their flyers. I had pretty good luck with those. Some of them even had names on them from very reputable manufacturers like Yg. I have not bought any of them for a while but the ones I got in the past were good.
 
I have had reasonable success with Ali End Mills. It just takes too long to get them. I have also ordered from Amazon. They arrive the next day and can be returned if they are junk.

However, I prefer to buy good ones from my local jobber, or KBC and others.

For what its worth, I disagree with your comment:

Megar arc 5040dd said:
but I don't use my mill tons so would like to find an affordable option for the times I do use it.
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How often I use a tool doesn't change the fact that I prefer to have and use good tools. Why waste space on junk. In fact, infrequent use is a good reason to buy quality.

Nothing worse than needing to do a small milling job, chucking up an end mill, setup the work, take my first cut, hear a funny noise, feel something whacko, and realize a flute is missing, or the end mill is now a pin, or the finish is crappy. Now what?

In the big picture, the extra cost of a quality end mill is really peanuts.
 
That's one area where I simply won't skimp! I learned way back in the beginning what the difference quality tooling can make. I only buy from a reputable supplier and I support my local machine shop supply companies for consumables like that.
 
My Ali experiences have been good. If you buy their cheapest, then that is what you get. Don’t sweat the price (regardless it is still not very expensive) - read a bunch of the descriptions and then buy & try. I agree with the confusion of what vendor - I suspect there are only a few manufacturers and a bunch of resellers (so what the product still arrives). Of course the delivery time is an issue, but to get fast delivery to my address from a supplier in Canada one still has to pay a courier fee. Usually I am not in a big rush so it doesn’t really matter. It usually isn’t a big deal to wait one week or two.

End mills off Ali are usually metric sizes - not a big deal for ER or TG style collets. I’m usually using CDC (cutter diameter compensation), so the exact size is easily compensated for.

I have not come across the “soft end mill” problem as yet. For end mills I’m using carbide about 95% of the time. I’d say give it a try. One thing is for sure, when I make an oops, the $300 Harvie can be destroyed just as quick as a lower cost EM.
 
I've bought several endmills off AliExpress -- ZGT is the only brand name I have experience with, there's probably others that are as good. Only metric sizes available, I have metric collets. 10 ~ 25% the cost of North American or European brands (varies with size) and just as good. Somewhere in their info they claim to use German CNC grinding equipment. Usually free shipping, delivered to your door, takes a couple or three weeks.
 
I can't speak to HSS, but I have purchased a LOT of carbide endmills off Aliexpress from a vendor called Azzkor. In particular, these
The 8mm x 20 single end are under US $4 in lots of 3. I recently used a 3.5mm to remove a broken, U.S. made, 8-32 HSS tap. Worked perfectly.
I started with 8mm because they can be held in a 5/16 collet. Being satisfied with the endmills, I bought a few metric collets to allow me to use 6mm and 4mm shank cutters. If you order R8 collets, be sure they have the correct thread for your drawbar. They are available in both 7/16-20 and 12mm.
 
Aliva said:
If I want quality end mills I go Online Supply in BC. Reasonable price and shipping costs.
Also I believe the end mills are made in Winnipeg.
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Yes, we do make our Carbide End Mills in Winnipeg... and I'll let you in on a little secret... Importing raw carbide into Canada has far lower duties than bringing them into the USA, so a similar quality mill typically costs less from a Canadian manufacturer than a USA manufacturer!
 
Susquatch said:
I have had reasonable success with Ali End Mills. It just takes too long to get them. I have also ordered from Amazon. They arrive the next day and can be returned if they are junk.

However, I prefer to buy good ones from my local jobber, or KBC and others.

For what its worth, I disagree with your comment:



How often I use a tool doesn't change the fact that I prefer to have and use good tools. Why waste space on junk. In fact, infrequent use is a good reason to buy quality.

Nothing worse than needing to do a small milling job, chucking up an end mill, setup the work, take my first cut, hear a funny noise, feel something whacko, and realize a flute is missing, or the end mill is now a pin, or the finish is crappy. Now what?

In the big picture, the extra cost of a quality end mill is really peanuts.
Click to expand...
I disagree with your disagreement. I needed a roughing end mill a year or so ago and went to my local supplier a 1/2" roughing mill cost me $75!! I can't justify spending that much per cutter since I would like to have a variety of sizes on hand especially if I am only going to use them once in a while for hobby stuff. That's like saying it's better to buy a brand new high end truck to have on hand when I want to haul a load to the dump a couple times a year. For how often it is needed and what it is used for a POS would be a better use of funds. That said if you have a ton of disposable income then yes I would agree with you. Or if it wasn't for a hobby shop.
 
I have a whole drawer of carbide from aliexpress, zgt & can are the majority

All of my lathe carbide is aliexpress

Im ok with the quality, it all seems to cut pretty well, high end American/Canadian made carbides would probably be better, but for the cost and my use I'm ok with the aliexpress stuff
 
Megar arc 5040dd said:
I disagree with your disagreement.
Click to expand...

We are not talking trucks. You don't have to be wealthy to buy good end mills.

I have some Azkor from Ali. They are ok in the bigger sizes. No complaints. But I have broken all the small 1/8 ones. Not really a waste cuz I use the stub shafts as pins. I have not broken a 1/8 from KBC yet.

We can agree to disagree.
 
Susquatch said:
We are not talking trucks. You don't have to be wealthy to buy good end mills.

I have some Azkor from Ali. They are ok in the bigger sizes. No complaints. But I have broken all the small 1/8 ones. Not really a waste cuz I use the stub shafts as pins. I have not broken a 1/8 from KBC yet.

We can agree to disagree.
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That's fair but like I said the last made in america bought local endmill cost me $75. To make a small set of the 5 most common sizes in both 4 flute and 2 flute would cost me a small fortune. I do agree there is a time to spend the extra money on the best quality you can but for me this isn't that time.
 
When I buy “new” I look to reliable sources rather than where made or brands (these days brands don’t mean much if they’re not real). I will buy NOS brands on eBay, but usually only if I know someone who has also purchased the identical items (have a bunch of 3/8” unused DoAll HSS end mills that I purchased for less than the “better” TiN HSS ones [which are more than satisfactory for my needs]).
 
Megar arc 5040dd said:
That's fair but like I said the last made in america bought local endmill cost me $75. To make a small set of the 5 most common sizes in both 4 flute and 2 flute would cost me a small fortune. I do agree there is a time to spend the extra money on the best quality you can but for me this isn't that time.
Click to expand...

Info Update - Your 1/2" end mill was a roughing mill at $75. AZZKOR sells a 12mm (almost 1/2") carbide roughing mill for 22.80. So 1/3 the price if that's what you need.

Online tooling (Skookum) does not specifically sell a "roughing style" because their "HP" and "UHP" mills can be run just as fast as a roughing. Their HP (High Performance) mills start at $48. That's 2/3 your 75 but still double Ali at 23.

Mind you, the HP endmill is a top notch tool. Most machinists don't know that virtually ALL General Purpose end mills are made with carbide sourced from China. Skookum's HP and UHP mills are made from carbide from Europe, and are extra high quality micrograin carbide so not really a comparison quality wise to any China made end mills.

So there you have it. Low cost carbide from China is 1/3 what you paid before and top notch stuff can be had in Canada for 2x what it costs for the low cost stuff from Ali.

Not a huge difference, but still double. My vote would be for the good stuff but everybody has to do their own thing given their own needs.

I guess I'd also add that I will almost always pay more for stuff that employs my neighbours. So getting top notch stuff that employs my neighbours is not really double for me and an easy call.
 
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