End Mill Sharpening

[LX Kid]

Can someone suggest suitable end mill grinding equipment for the home hobbiest? Everything out there seems to be $1200 and up!!!! Gotta be something out there that will "get-r-done" without having to take out a mortgage on my home. Sending end mills out for sharpening can get pretty expensive too! Thanks

[spro]

Time is money yet interesting. The gov't type sales in your area can be investigated closer than before from a distance. Lot # may describe "shop equipment, miscellaneous.." or "grinder". Investigating, it may be a benchtop tool & cutter grinder. That sounds like what you want. Be prepared for other items that come with it like shelving, paint and oddball stuff.

[LX Kid]

Does anyone own one of the $600 Chinese "Universal Cutter/Grinder" machines? If you do, what do you think of it?

[stevec]

LX, I have one of these

endmill grinder.jpg (6.72 KiB) Viewed 6590 times

. I realize it's not a "Universal Cutter/Grinder" but it does a pretty good job on endmills, It employs an air bearing for the collet spindle, so it requires compressed air.
I plan to explore the use of some jigs and do some HSS SQ. cutters for the lathe as well as well as maybe developing a drill grinding set-up.

[LX Kid]

That's pretty nice peice of equipment but it cost quite a bit also.

[dalee]

Hi,

End mills have a somewhat complicated form. So such sharpening equipment is pretty specialized and therefore tends to be expensive.

Used sharpeners from commercial shops tend to be of the "rode hard and put up wet" type. And rebuilding them can be an expensive and sometimes difficult pain. They are often obsolete and good parts can be scarce.

Building from scratch can be done, there are some fine examples out there, but that takes time. And the costs might not very well save money in the end.

Finally, just how many end mills are you going through and what size? Would it pay to own a machine that you might only use a couple times a year? Everybody's cost analyse is going to be a bit different. Right now, I don't own a mill, and the little bit of milling I do in my lathe it doesn't even pay to think about sharpening used ones. It's cheaper to run them to failure as the sizes I normally use can be bought pretty cheaply.

From my perspective, when I do get a mill, I would lean to making my own end mill sharpener. I'm not in a commercial situation that needs instant results. So I have the time to do the work and I can finance the effort over time out of my wallet. I would spend some time looking at some home-made units. And seriously try to figure out how to make the design I like best.

dalee

[J Tiers]

There are various systems for sharpening that are capable only of sharpening the end , and others, like the one in the pic above, that should be able to do the end and the flutes.

I so far have found it cheaper to not bother. They go in the "needs sharpened" box, and when I get tired of looking at them in there, I move them to the "scrap HSS" box.

I have most of a T&C grinder set up now, and I can sharpen horizontal milling cutters. Eventually I will be able to do end mills, if I care.

[spro]

I don't know what $600 brings anymore. Think that one could be built around a "workhead" one already got. The universal workhead looks like a JOB in itself. swivels, twists at all angles, holds work with 5c collets and has basic indexing. 25" "X" table with infeed.Motor suspended on a mast similar to a m/d. Universal clamping with degree scales. 1/2 hp 2850 rpm. I'm only saying this because this was bought from Enco years ago by NEOC or somethin. the make is Din Shee . It came to me precisely the way i explained the gov't sales.

[LX Kid]

This is the one I was talking about from Northern Tool.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... _200414732

[dalee]

Hi,

I looked at the manual and I think it looks like it should do a passable job. I'm not sure how rigid the over-arm for grinding end mill flutes might be. To me, it looks a bit flexible. Most of the sharpeners I've used, the finger guide was mounted to the base. But this might fine for HSM use.

I might have more concerns about the motor. But for limited home use, I would think it should last a reasonable amount of time.

dalee

[David Merrill]

Be wary; there are attachments needed that are not mentioned in the Northern Tool link. See, for example this Wholesale Tool link: http://www.wttool.com/index/page/produc ... pping=true

Do some more research: http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&h ... 6&bih=1066

David Merrill

[LX Kid]

Looks like the one from NT went up $100. From their description it looks like it comes with the accessories.