Quality of Monster Tool endmills

Wolfe88 · May 2, 2012

I've used a few Mill Monster or whatever they're called endmills and my experience tends to be that they lose their sharp edge more quickly than other endmills at the rated SFM you normally see for a TiAlN coated carbide tool. Even less than the rated SFM. I've been running a 1/4" TiAlN coated rougher/finisher at 3000rpm in 1018 CRS with between a .0007 and .0012" chip load at 1-2 diameters deep.

I might have made 200 linear inches worth of cut with flood coolant on and the edges are already visible. Cuts are squeaking, finish is poor etc.

Comparing price to say a ZCarb, I can easily justify paying 50% more for a tool that lasts twice as long. And I think a ZCarb would.

What experience do you guys have with Mill Monster? I've used ZCarbs before and loved them even though the programmer I had was going about things all wrong and I never got to see one used to its full potential.

I see some impressive demos by Iscar and others as well. While were on the subject does anyone have any recommendations? Keep in mind Im floating on the edge of going broke. I dont have much depth in my pockets.

I was trying this rougher/finisher to see how I liked it. So far Im not impressed but it may be due to poor cutter quality.

Thanks

sniper1rfa · May 2, 2012

Junk. They're definitely cut-rate endmills. If you're doing short run stuff and you just need a tool to last one part and do something specific they're generally OK, but they're not suitable for production. Their high-helix 3flutes for aluminum are the most amazingly chattery aluminum-specific endmills I've used, even in stub length.

I've also seen geometry errors in their stuff - you don't generally think about measuring the included angle of a drill-mill, for example, but I had a problem that left me scratching my head for a long time before realizing the tool was wrong.

Had a boss that liked them, got him switched over to YG instead. YG's are still cheap but at least they're reasonable quality.

That said, in some cases the mill monster stuff is so cheap it's almost worth buying a pack and picking the ones you like.

Wolfe88 · May 2, 2012

Thanks for the tip. Where would you recommend purchasing YG's?

Co-workers have told me before about the geometry errors before actually. Even said he found one once that was dull out of the sleeve. I feel kindof dumb even buying Mill Monster now that I think of it.

jamesu229 · May 2, 2012

Y/G is a good endmill. You also might want to check out "Online Carbide". They are USA made and from my experience the are ok. The price for a 1/2 x 1 is 26.90.

jason2448 · Feb 19, 2016

Hi All,
I came across this thread and just wanted to add my opinion. We have been buying Monster Tool Endmills from xyz for over a year now and never had any issues. They are actually one of the few true USA end mill manufactures in the country and that is why we like them. Recently I found out that a lot of big name brands actually private label and don't even manufacture all there end mills. So you might think your getting a name brand but actually its coming from China.
Thanks.

Rstewart · Feb 19, 2016

^^^^^

There's a $hit-Ton of American Made endmill manufacturers btw...

Whysosharp · Feb 19, 2016

You must be getting lucky bunches of Endmills from Monster Mill. Buy GARR they are reasonably priced and last a good while even if your beating the snot out of them. My horror story I had a 1.0 3fl carbide EM from monster mill and I was machining a 2.0 dia hole literally taking .01 off the walls with more than adequate coolant flush and one of the flutes chipped about 3/4 of the way through a 40pc. job. In my book a 1.0 EM should be able to withstand more than just a finish pass. They aren't my favorite brand that's for sure.

jason2448 · Feb 19, 2016

I definitely agree with you but a ton of them are private label companies that put there own name on someone else end mill.

ewlsey · Feb 19, 2016

jason2448 said:
I definitely agree with you but a ton of them are private label companies that put there own name on someone else end mill.

I think you might be confused. What most of these companies do is buy a carbide blank from someone else and do their own grinding. Making the actual carbide takes some serious equipment and very few companies are set up to actually do that. I know Sandvik is one of the biggest ones going and lots of end mills you buy use Sandvik blanks.

I've had good luck with Garr and HTC/Maritool for reasonably priced solid tools. I had some Hanita aluminum end mills with a wiper that were awesome for finishing pocket floors.

E.F. Thumann · Feb 19, 2016

Jason, you have four posts over a year, and this one is extolling the virtues of shitty endmills? No association on your part, I'm sure..........

jason2448 · Feb 19, 2016

E.F. Thumann said:
Jason, you have four posts over a year, and this one is extolling the virtues of shitty endmills? No association on your part, I'm sure..........

Sorry I'm new to this Forum, just sharing my opinion. Last time I checked thats what you do in Forums. So you are saying Garr, HTC and Monster are all shitty because thats the only brands I've talked good about. What type and brands of end mills do you use?

jason2448 · Feb 19, 2016

ewlsey said:
I think you might be confused. What most of these companies do is buy a carbide blank from someone else and do their own grinding. Making the actual carbide takes some serious equipment and very few companies are set up to actually do that. I know Sandvik is one of the biggest ones going and lots of end mills you buy use Sandvik blanks.

I've had good luck with Garr and HTC/Maritool for reasonably priced solid tools. I had some Hanita aluminum end mills with a wiper that were awesome for finishing pocket floors.

I know what you mean about the carbide itself but Companies like HTC will private label to other companies that put there own name on it. That's not a bad thing with HTC because they are american but I dont want to name any names but I know for a fact that some companies do that with China made endmills. That's all im getting at.

jason2448 · Feb 19, 2016

Whysosharp said:
You must be getting lucky bunches of Endmills from Monster Mill. Buy GARR they are reasonably priced and last a good while even if your beating the snot out of them. My horror story I had a 1.0 3fl carbide EM from monster mill and I was machining a 2.0 dia hole literally taking .01 off the walls with more than adequate coolant flush and one of the flutes chipped about 3/4 of the way through a 40pc. job. In my book a 1.0 EM should be able to withstand more than just a finish pass. They aren't my favorite brand that's for sure.

Thank you for the response, yes we have used Garr a lot in the past and I agree they are a great brand. Definitely stick with what works best. As a company we have used so many different brands throughout the years and some of the best brands out there still break for no reason for us. Maybe operator error's or just faulty tools, I think its just part of it for us. Garr is well priced but some manufactures are so expensive as you probably know. Either way as an owner I would rather see a less expensive cutter break.

Philabuster · Feb 19, 2016

jason2448 said:
Sorry I'm new to this Forum, just sharing my opinion. Last time I checked thats what you do in Forums.

You bumped a thread that was FOUR YEARS OLD and just had to mention where to buy some substandard endmills for a good price TWICE in one post, which coincidentally, was also your first post to the forum.

"I just wanted to let you guys know, bla, bla." Right. :rolleyes5:

This is classically the stereotypical spammer behavior we always see. Just sayin. :toetap:

SIM · Feb 19, 2016

jason2448 said:
Either way as an owner I would rather see a less expensive cutter break.

Personally, as an owner I'd rather pay more for a tool that runs longer that gives consistent results.

A good tool that is consistent will run X parts before it wears to the point it pops...so we dial it back and enter that number into tool life management. We stop and change tool at that point...I have no issue pulling a dull tool for a fresh one before it breaks. Tool breaks, you can scar work, damage holder, the following tools hit material that should have been removed by broken tool...

A one off...a crappy setup...yeah a cheap endmill has its place.

jason2448 · Feb 19, 2016

Philabuster said:
You bumped a thread that was FOUR YEARS OLD and just had to mention where to buy some substandard endmills for a good price TWICE in one post, which coincidentally, was also your first post to the forum.

"I just wanted to let you guys know, bla, bla." Right.

This is classically the stereotypical spammer behavior we always see. Just sayin.

Yes I named dropped because they are Local and helped us out and I see how you could think that. I took the name off the post. Sorry about that. I really do co-own a machine shop.

moonlight machine · Feb 19, 2016

I use Garr end mills, super quality, I can't believe how long they last in this 4140 Q&T I have been milling for weeks it seems like.

jason2448 · Feb 19, 2016

SIM said:
Personally, as an owner I'd rather pay more for a tool that runs longer with gives consistent results.

A good tool that is consistent will run X parts before it wears to the point it pops...so we dial it back and enter that number into tool life management. We stop and change tool at that point...I have no issue pulling a dull tool for a fresh one before it breaks. Tool breaks, you can scar work, holder break the following tools...

A one off...a crappy setup...yeah a cheap endmill has its place.

Our company only runs prototype and low volumes. When a job is done the cutter either goes for sharping or to the scrap guy. Whole different world then production. The tool life management program sounds pretty cool. You guys must run some big numbers.

cpifer3 · Feb 21, 2016

I've had god luck with garr vrx series for everything from 1018 to 4340 and the v4 series for inconel and materials over 45 rc

Stuart Caruk · Feb 21, 2016

I use monster tool endmills all the time. They don't last particularily long, but given that they are priced comparable to a couple decent inserts, I treat them as disposable.

We do thousands of parts a month, and I typically rough to .020" over sized with inserted tooling, then take full depth of cut passes with the monster tools to bring the parts to size, and remove the witness marks. In aluminum, I'll still get hundreds of parts. In steel of 4140PH I get about 50 parts. I can use a more expensive endmill, but it will typically get nicked well before it's worn much and bugger up the finish anyway, so a Mill Monster fits the bill just fine. Bang for the buck for us, they work very well.

As far as rough milling and hogging with them, forget it. They wear out before you get hardly any work accomplished.But for finishing they work well.

Just my couple lempiras worth....

Quality of Monster Tool endmills

Aluminum

Cast Iron

Aluminum

Hot Rolled

Plastic

Stainless

Cast Iron

Plastic

Diamond

Cast Iron

Plastic

Plastic

Plastic

Diamond

Titanium

Plastic

Diamond

Plastic

Cast Iron

Stainless

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