[5artist5]

I read a thread the other day about buying high quality end mills and staying away from sets.

What are some recommendations for high quality end mills that work well with the Taig mill for cutting aluminum?

[TOC Admin]

Niagara Cutter makes some Great Endmills....Good prices too

[Hirudin]

I've only bought from 2 direct-sales manufacturers, American Carbide and Maritool.

Both seem to have quality mills with pluses and minuses of their own...

American-Carbide
They have a wider selecting of mills including 2 flute ones "designed" for aluminum. They offer 2 coatings (I think) as well as uncoated. They sell square and ball end mills in a bunch of different sizes in uncoated or TiAlN*. They also have carbide drills which are real nice.
The one and only time I ordered from them it took quite a while for the shipment to arrive, I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 weeks. They didn't send a tracking number and charge a flat rate of $10 for UPS ground (which is a little bit expensive in my opinion).

Maritool
As far as I can tell almost everything they sell is TiAlN coated*. Also, I don't think they sell 2 flute cutters. They have a bunch of different shapes including square, ball, corner radius (almost square but with rounded corners), corner rounding (for milling fillets I think), chamfer, thread mills, drills, and taps (probably a couple others too). Their website is real nice with pictures for everything.
They have collets too, so if you want a different size bit but don't have a collet you can just add it to your order.
Also you can use your UPS account to pay for shipping. My orders have always shipped the first possible day and they send a tracking number.
I find their prices to be reasonable, good selection (as long as you want at least 4 flutes), and fast shipping on my UPS account. Pretty much if they sell what I want I'm going to order from them.

This could be a good thing or a bad thing I guess. I think some people say the "Al" (aluminum) in the coating makes it easier for the chips to weld to the bit. Personally I haven't had any issues, but I don't have every much experience. I've been using a single 3/16" bit from Maritool for almost all the aluminum cutting I've done so far. No aluminum has welded to the bit, but the coating has almost completely worn off.

[Hirudin]

Niagara Cutter makes some Great Endmills....Good prices too

I see that Rutland Tool sells Niagara Cutter end mills. Do you know of any other sources?

[Journey_Man]

www.monstertool.com

www.osgtool.com/

[TOC Admin]

I see that Rutland Tool sells Niagara Cutter end mills. Do you know of any other sources?

Any Industrial supply house should carry them....they do here in Ca. anyway

[escott76]

I read a thread the other day about buying high quality end mills and staying away from sets.

What are some recommendations for high quality end mills that work well with the Taig mill for cutting aluminum?

I've never had bad luck with any cutters I've bought from McMaster Carr. They are definitely more expensive, but I hate when I need to get a job done, and wait for tools to ship again to replace broken ones. They carry a number of different cutters, Niagra stands out. I've had good luck with OSG stuff as well. I get that from my local supplier.

[5artist5]

Thanks to all who answered, I'll try some of these out.

[tobyaxis]

Thanks to all who answered, I'll try some of these out.

Just a word of wisdom. Be careful of the Word/s "Quality and High Quality". This usually means they are imported from overseas.

If you want you can try this by buying a few drills. One from a known Company/Supplier and one from a "Quality or High Quality" Supplier.

See how they stand up against one another.

LOL, I have used the Quality that companies have bought to save a few bucks and Melted Drills in Aluminum after 5 holes.

The other tool from Precision Twist did about 500 holes before showing any signs of wear.

Same applies to End Mills.

DuraMill, Hanita, OSG, Harvey Tool, Melin Tool, Niagara Cutter, RobbJack, Monster Tool, and Scientific Cutting Tools. All very good tool manufacturers.

[Mastersniper]

I see that Rutland Tool sells Niagara Cutter end mills. Do you know of any other sources?

Hirudin,
Advanced tool supply in Santa Clara carries them, at least micro sizes .010 and .015 I picked some up at lunch today. cutting a PCB right now with one.