Where to buy end mills?

[YYCHM]

Craig, refer to my post #12. This afternoon I bit the bullet ordering six end mils from Accusize, three TitAIN coated for roughing and three regular uncoated end mills all 4 flute. We shall see how they work out which I shall share at a much later date.

What size? I looked at the Accusize link you posted. Their stuff seemed rather expensive to me? What did they end up charging for shipping?

 

[Dusty]

Craig I hesitate to place orders off shore after my first ugly episode in doing that, simply wanted to give Accusize end mills a try due to the fact I like what I 've purchased from their Medicine Hat dealer in the past. I ordered a 3/8" standard and 3/8" fine and a 1/2" standard TiAIN coated roughing end mills. Plus a 3/8" and two 1/2" uncoated regular 4 flute. 3/8" and 1/2" are my most common go to end mills.
My total cost $139.64 after they gave me 10% off plus GST and $27.18 FedEx shipping.

 

[Tom Kitta]

What size? I looked at the Accusize link you posted. Their stuff seemed rather expensive to me?

Yeah their coated cobalt EM are about 2x the price of the stuff from Aliexpress. Will certainly not get even close to tool life of coated carbide. I looked recently at a ruberflex collet they had and I went with China direct from aliexpress as it was 50% cheaper. I would not mind the prices & even pay more if it was good stuff - not regular stuff from China, same as aliexpress at more $$$. I mean they are hobbyist shop so prices should reflect that.

Pro shop prices are not that far off - travers is about 10% more apples to apples, but its Travers brand vs. Accusize (Travers is certainly better).

Accusize sells China brand EM carbide 1/2 in for 55 CAD whereas you can get identical stuff (same box etc etc.) from aliexpress in 12mm variety for just 15 CAD. I mean that is seriously overpriced stuff. I certainly would not pay almost 4x as much just b/c I have tiny bit bigger EM.

 

[Dusty]

Yeah their coated cobalt EM are about 2x the price of the stuff from Aliexpress. Will certainly not get even close to tool life of coated carbide. I looked recently at a ruberflex collet they had and I went with China direct from aliexpress as it was 50% cheaper. I would not mind the prices & even pay more if it was good stuff - not regular stuff from China, same as aliexpress at more $$$. I mean they are hobbyist shop so prices should reflect that.

Pro shop prices are not that far off - travers is about 10% more apples to apples, but its Travers brand vs. Accusize (Travers is certainly better).

Accusize sells China brand EM carbide 1/2 in for 55 CAD whereas you can get identical stuff (same box etc etc.) from aliexpress in 12mm variety for just 15 CAD. I mean that is seriously overpriced stuff. I certainly would not pay almost 4x as much just b/c I have tiny bit bigger EM.

Your comments are well taken although in all fairness with my bum leg and knee I am not allowed to drive and the pandemic has us hunkered down at present. Mix in my first and only horrible experience dealing with Aliexpress perhaps then you might better understand the position we're in. Everything but everything is delivered to our front door at premium cost I might add. This isn't a funny situation to have and I wish it upon no one. So one does the best they can given the circumstances and they live with it. That's a fact of life that comes with aging. Besides getting old is not for sissies nor the faint hearted.

 

[PeterT]

For some reason most of HSS tooling I bought off Ali was so-so quality - burrs, drills, end mills. But the carbide has been excellent value IMO when purchased through a reputable seller. I cant think of a single carbide tool that gave me regret. Transport timing from Asia is an issue so it doesn't lend itself to need it tomorrow which will always cost you more. So I try to envision what I'll be needing a few months from now. Now there is excellent HSS for sure, mostly from N-Am or Europe, so that's kind of the tradeoff. And HSS is a very generic term,it can vary significantly inits alloy/properties.

 

[YYCHM]

Your comments are well taken although in all fairness with my bum leg and knee I am not allowed to drive and the pandemic has us hunkered down at present. Mix in my first and only horrible experience dealing with Aliexpress perhaps then you might better understand the position we're in. Everything but everything is delivered to our front door at premium cost I might add. This isn't a funny situation to have and I wish it upon no one. So one does the best they can given the circumstances and live with it. That's a fact of life come old age.

What was your AliExpress fiasco? I was having great success with AliExpress until that VFD cluster f.ck but I was fully compensated.

@Dabbler keeps telling me to try Banggood, so I just ordered this.

https://www.banggood.com/Drillpro-8...p-1139712.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CN

That comes to $5 per end mill and ships out of the US. TiAIN coated? Godda give carbide a try some time I guess.

 

[Tom Kitta]

With good vendor for carbide expect shipping from China to be very fast - we are talking about like 2 weeks. They ship bulk to Canada and then send from Toronto via Canada Post tracked. They expect carbide is purchased by a company while HSS is more "amateur grade" stuff. I did not buy HSS from China in years.

 

[Dusty]

What was your AliExpress fiasco? I was having great success with AliExpress until that VFD cluster f.ck but I was fully compensated.

@Dabbler keeps telling me to try Banggood, so I just ordered this.

https://www.banggood.com/Drillpro-8...p-1139712.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CN

That comes to $5 per end mill and ships out of the US. TiAIN coated? Godda give carbide a try some time I guess.

I'll tell you about my AliExpress fiasco later on off list. Smart move Craig well done, makes me wish I had metric end mill holders.

 

[YYCHM]

Smart move and well done Craig.

Don't know if it was smart or not LOL. That ad states there was a $20US new user discount coupon to be applied. It wasn't.

Something I'm noticing is that the selection of 2 flute end mills is less abundant than 4 flute and some what more expensive?

 

[Dusty]

Don't know if it was smart or not LOL. That ad states there was a $20US new user discount coupon to be applied. It wasn't.

Something I'm noticing is that the selection of 2 flute end mills is less abundant than 4 flute and some what more expensive?

Craig, it always boils down to supply and demand. User discounts and new customer coupons are a joke. Should you receive one then rush out and buy a lottery ticket.

 

[Tom Fitzpatrick]

I just purchased some indexable cutting tools for my Craftsman lathe and some Kennemetal 1/2 cutters with brazed on carbide in right and left mirror images from Edge Production in Calgary. They're over by Windsor Plywood (Eastlake) and Shaun was SUPER helpful plus their printed catalogue is MASSIVE (he gave me a copy) and they have a wealth of machinist tools and tooling plus many many pages of other industrial products. edgeproduction.com 403-290-0610 or 1-866-290-0610 ask for Shaun - to pick items up you have to go around to the back door through the wearhouse (I'm sure because of covid).

 

[Tom Kitta]

What are the prices at Edge Production in Calgary? They do not have a catalog online.

 

[Dabbler]

Kennametal inserts vary widely in price - they have ones that are quite reasonablue, in the 5$ range, and can go to 40$ in the same form factor, depending on the exact capabilities of the insert. Tye stock too many to characterize- and hey also carry 3 or 4 other brands.

 

[Tom Fitzpatrick]

What are the prices at Edge Production in Calgary? They do not have a catalog online.

Not sure about end mills, but for each of my indexable & brazed cutters for my lathe the prices were between $11 & $15.

 

[combustable herbage]

@Dabbler keeps telling me to try Banggood, so I just ordered this.

https://www.banggood.com/Drillpro-8...p-1139712.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CN

That comes to $5 per end mill and ships out of the US. TiAIN coated? Godda give carbide a try some time I guess.[/QUOTE]

I purchased this set from bangood

Drillpro 8pcs blue naco 2-12mm 4 flutes carbide end mill set hrc50 tungsten steel milling cutter tool Sale - Banggood.com

I ordered March 9 and delivered around March 28 I believe it came via the US they have been good so far although not a lot of use mostly a bit of fooling around in some aluminum but when I start breaking them I would definitely look at ordering a few more of the individual ones that are most likely to break.
Dabbler is right with banggood I have had good luck with them over the years shipping time sucks sometimes but sometimes its real good been surprised the last few times, I find it better than ali express just because I think some sellers are a bit sketchy but I do order through them as well as bang good doesn't have everything but I find banggood amazingly organized I recently received an email from them to clear up an order I had long paid and forgotten about so I was impressed with that. I really like the convoy s2 18650 flashlights great light and with the 18650 batteries they go for a long time, I see the price has went up they used to be around 10 bucks
Convoy s2+ black l2 7135x8 3/5mode edc led flashlight 18650 Sale - Banggood.com

 

[YYCHM]

Dabbler is right with banggood I have had good luck with them over the years shipping time sucks sometimes but sometimes its real good been surprised the last few times, I find it better than ali express just because I think some sellers are a bit sketchy but I do order through them as well as bang good doesn't have everything but I find banggood amazingly organized I recently received an email from them to clear up an order I had long paid and forgotten about so I was impressed with that.

Time will tell. I received an email on the 6th stating my order had shipped. In reality all that has been done so far is create a USPS shipping label. USPS still doesn't show them taking possession of the package. An ETD of May 20th seems a little much for something being mailed out of the US.

 

[combustable herbage]

Time will tell. I received an email on the 6th stating my order had shipped. In reality all that has been done so far is create a USPS shipping label. USPS still doesn't show them taking possession of the package. An ETD of May 20th seems a little much for something being mailed out of the US.

I do wonder sometimes if they put out feelers of different items that maybe they haven't take stock of so that they can leverage the amounts based on the incoming orders and that there is a weird delay after the order until you see some real action in terms of shipping, they may say its shipped but it may only be that the shipping information was entered electronically but not received at the sorting facility. Hopefully they will come sooner than that.

 

[YYCHM]

So..... As stop gap for now, I purchased 9 EM from BB for $70. 2 1/8, 2 1/4, 2 3/8, 2 1/2 and 1 3/4 that's $7 per EM.
They gave me the winter sale price even though I was 2 days late for the sale. The thing about BB's offerings is that they are either 3/8 shank or 1/2 shank which is good for me. KMS's offerings are all over the map for shank size and KBC's prices are a no start.

 

[Dusty]

So..... As stop gap for now, I purchased 9 EM from BB for $70. 2 1/8, 2 1/4, 2 3/8, 2 1/2 and 1 3/4 that's $7 per EM.
They gave me the winter sale price even though I was 2 days late for the sale. The thing about BB's offerings is that they are either 3/8 shank or 1/2 shank which is good for me. KMS's offerings are all over the map for shank size and KBC's prices are a no start.

Received my Cobalt EM order from Accusize yesterday morning. For me the roughing EM's will be a totally new experience so I'll let you know how I get on with that. My lame knee has played up this past week likely due to our weather swings, still much frost here overnight.

The EM's from BB are they HSS or Cobalt, you don't say? Concur with your views on KBC's EM pricing, too rich for my blood unless I absolutely really need to go there.

 

[DPittman]

My lame knee has played up this past week likely due to our weather swings, still much frost here overnight.

I don't remember if you've said already....is knee surgery an option? and has covid caused surgery cancelations been a factor for you? I feel for you with your bad knees.