I have been dealing with a large corp, buying their nearly perfect endmills for scrap. They are mostly 1/4, 3/8, flat and ball, mostly flat. They are still very useable, but that super crisp new cutting edge is not quite as new. They change them very often on a production run. For over a year I have been buying 25-30 pounds about every two weeks and have around one thousand pounds now. I was paying $5 or so per lb and figured I could always get my $ back in scrap anytime. Carbide is now $3/lb. My question is, does it make sense to find a resharpening service and offer them say three pieces to sharpen one and them keep the other two or something down those lines? If this is feasible, what kind of exchange deal sounds about right for an asking starting point?
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Unlimited (almost) supply 1/4" four flute carbide endmills
- Thread starter Bluechipx
- Start date
- Replies 28
- Views 3,922
cmccull166
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2013
- Location
- NW Pa
I would guess 10- 1/4 end mills per lb...offer them 2.00 ea 400% profit?
cyanidekid
Titanium
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2016
- Location
- Brooklyn NYC
sharpening services are in the business of sharpening. they want money, not carbide scrap. good luck finding anyone to take 100 pcs to sharpen one.
I get your point but a light resharpening with a wax dip seems like the service would easily offer them for a profit to most customers seeing that they are a very common size, but I'm probably dreaming. They have been sorted under a magnifier (tedious job) poor with slight chipping, near perfect and hard to tell from new. If it were easy I would send a few free samples out to people here but probably not worth the trouble.
Bobw
Diamond
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2005
- Location
- Hatch, NM Chile capital of the WORLD
Ebay or even here in the selling section down below.
Back in the day, I bought quite a few mixed lots of lightly
used carbide endmills on e-bay.
If they are just sort of used, I wouldn't waste my money
sharpening them. Probably cost more to sharpen a 1/4"
than it would to buy a new one anyways.
Offer 'em up. A 2.5" long 1/4" endmill is a bit under 2 ounces.
Edit: math fail.. abut 1.3 or 1.4 ounces.. I'm going to pull out the scale.
Edit #2: TOTAL math fail, my brain isn't working today. The scale says 0.856 ounces.
Depending on exactly what they are, I'd pay a buck a piece for a pile
of them, just to have backups, or to drill out taps. Plus shipping of
course. Flat rate boxes are awesome.
Back in the day, I bought quite a few mixed lots of lightly
used carbide endmills on e-bay.
If they are just sort of used, I wouldn't waste my money
sharpening them. Probably cost more to sharpen a 1/4"
than it would to buy a new one anyways.
Offer 'em up. A 2.5" long 1/4" endmill is a bit under 2 ounces.
Edit: math fail.. abut 1.3 or 1.4 ounces.. I'm going to pull out the scale.
Edit #2: TOTAL math fail, my brain isn't working today. The scale says 0.856 ounces.
Depending on exactly what they are, I'd pay a buck a piece for a pile
of them, just to have backups, or to drill out taps. Plus shipping of
course. Flat rate boxes are awesome.
Phil in Montana
Stainless
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2007
- Location
- Missoula Mt
A cnc shop can not use resharped end mills, that why you get them...put them up for sell in large lots...Phil
cmccull166
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2013
- Location
- NW Pa
My experience has been re sharping those sizes is not worth the time or money, use them for roughing till
they become scrap
they become scrap
D Nelson
Stainless
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2015
- Location
- Missouri Ida
I use them as roughers if they leave a little stock extra no problem a new one is coming behind to qualify it any ways
Don
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
CarbideBob
Diamond
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2007
- Location
- Flushing/Flint, Michigan
Why not just make them into 6mm? Now you have a standard size and a easy grind.
Yes at 2 to 10 the resharp cost too expensive vs new,....at 100 pcs?
Bob
Bill D
Diamond
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2004
- Location
- Modesto, CA USA
Sell me 20-30 reasonably sharp ones for use in wood working routers if they are spiral flute. Charge 20-30 dollars for them and 7.50 shipping
Bill D
Bill D
EPAIII
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2003
- Location
- Beaumont, TX, USA
Get them sharpened in large lots and then E-bay them in lots of 5 or 10 at an attractive price. With fixed rate shipping (USPS) you could make some money with them. You could fit that number in a fixed rate envelope for the cheapest shipping rate.
I'd buy the first 10 if they retained the 1/4" shanks.
I'd buy the first 10 if they retained the 1/4" shanks.
dana gear
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2013
- Location
- Northern califorina, usa
We installed a Norton tool/cutter sharpening grinder in the shop,when the pile of used cutters gets to large we go through the used cutters and only re-sharp 5/8" and larger that still look decent,after re sharp we use only for ruffing after.
We just toss any cutters under 5/8"Just not worth the time, labors a killer.
cyanidekid
Titanium
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2016
- Location
- Brooklyn NYC
looks like your best move is to sell at 3$ Lb, and take your loss. move on. (if you need to raise cash). no better angle to get your money out without sinking way more time into this. call it a life lesson. we all make mis-calculations, no reason to chase good money with bad. or visa-versa..
keep a few hundred (pounds?)of the better ones. thats yer "profit" ... handling, storage and transportation are real costs, never mind inspection, so cut your losses. move on.
keep a few hundred (pounds?)of the better ones. thats yer "profit" ... handling, storage and transportation are real costs, never mind inspection, so cut your losses. move on.
thermite
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
Well.. if you want to build security safes that are a tedious pain in the ass to break into, these make decent additions to the "aggregate" to mix in with a specialized concrete that also includes plastics to lubricate core drills so they can't abrade, and other nasty surprises that, for example, will kill the sumbich trying to burn 'em open with an oxygen lance off of toxic fumes generated.
Downside?
Lawyer would eat yer lunch, USA for harming even a mass-murderer at his trade.
They sold this type of safe into isolated islands, "darkest Africa", and the like where alarm systems were either non-existent or linked to known-corrupt responders. And then.. let "the word get around" ... that XYZ has a new safe built to render anyone who messes with it stone cold dead, and yesterday afternoon, not tomorrow morning.
You'd have to known Old Skewl British Empire safe makers?
trevj
Titanium
- Joined
- May 17, 2005
- Location
- Interior British Columbia
You should have tracked down a few sharpening services and discussed your grand plan, before you bought a thousand pounds of scrap carbide for over the market rate.
thermite
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
Yeah, surely... but where the Hell were YOU with all that sage advice when I first started dating my ex WIFE nearly fifty years ago?
I mean who KNEW the "bottom would fall out of the market"?
Five large spent @ $5/lb is chik'n feed just compared to what she ran-up on VISA bills, and only about ONE PERCENT of the overall loss on THAT deal.
Okay guys, I didn't come here to try to sell anything but if some of you want to try some for a buck each and pay flat rate, the wife said she would handle the wrapping and shipping. Do me a favor though, report back here with an honest assessment of the mills. As soon as I get out to the shop I'll try to determine brand, knowing the company I would suspect they were the best available. To be honest when I was offered the chance for 'scrap' I figured I could use them for something but honestly I had trouble telling most of them from new.
D Nelson
Stainless
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2015
- Location
- Missouri Ida
I’m in
Don
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Don
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