Where/Who To Purchase Carbide Blanks For Milling Tooling From

Zahnrad Kopf · Jul 24, 2018

I am working on a project that requires some custom form insert mills. ( no solids on this one for various reasons ) I have reached out to some people and have a couple more to hear back from yet, but thought to get this part out of the way, just in case.

I am considering both typical standard shapes of carbide inserts, as well as using rectangular blanks. If I end up having to make the milling tooling and inserts myself, who can you recommend for purchasing Carbide Blanks?

Thanks.

Whysosharp · Jul 24, 2018

You could contact GARR I believe they have section for carbide blanks specifiyin the catalog. Guhring may also be another option as far as I know they make their own carbide and don’t buy blanks from the larger corps

Tonytn36 · Jul 24, 2018

Lots of successes with these folks on custom cutting tools. Custom Cutting Tools - Competitive Carbide - Dramatically Different

DDoug · Jul 24, 2018

Bob....uncle bob....Must be in the john....

We have Leech Carbide nearby:
Leech Carbide Home Page
Grades:
Technical Specs

plastikdreams · Jul 24, 2018

Will this be used on a harbor freight lathe with CNC kit?

Zahnrad Kopf · Jul 24, 2018

Whysosharp said:
You could contact GARR I believe they have section for carbide blanks specifiyin the catalog. Guhring may also be another option as far as I know they make their own carbide and don’t buy blanks from the larger corps

Thank you. I've put them on the list to contact.

Tonytn36 said:
Lots of successes with these folks on custom cutting tools. Custom Cutting Tools - Competitive Carbide - Dramatically Different

Thanks, Tony. That looks pretty promising. I appreciate the note.

digger doug said:
Bob....uncle bob....Must be in the john....

We have Leech Carbide nearby:
Leech Carbide Home Page
Grades:
Technical Specs

Thanks. Yes, I'm in contact with Bob. Thought of him first, actually. He may be too busy to assist on this one, but I'm hoping not because I prefer to work with other PM members in good standing, on projects like this.

plastikdreams said:
Will this be used on a harbor freight lathe with CNC kit?

WTF? Over.

I'm not sure if that was some attempt at humor or a genuine question in your head, but feel free to walk away now.

Everyone else feel free to keep the referrals coming. Thanks.

DDoug · Jul 24, 2018

Z, gt back to us here about Leech, when you contact them.

As they are in the heart of the plastic
mold industry here, I can only assume they are geared more that way,
and may not be what your looking for.

Zahnrad Kopf · Jul 24, 2018

digger doug said:
Z, gt back to us here about Leech, when you contact them.

Will do. May be a few days yet, as I want to give the remaining people a chance still. Everyone is busy right now, so I don't expect answers to complicated requests in a day or two. And, since this is ( and has been ) a long term project, another week or so isn't going to be the end of the world.

Thanks.

Whysosharp · Jul 24, 2018

The only other CO. I can think of would be Sandvik I’m sure their blanks are high quality but their pricing might be astronomical never actually looked into them

plastikdreams · Jul 24, 2018

Zahnrad Kopf said:
Thank you. I've put them on the list to contact.

Thanks, Tony. That looks pretty promising. I appreciate the note.

Thanks. Yes, I'm in contact with Bob. Thought of him first, actually. He may be too busy to assist on this one, but I'm hoping not because I prefer to work with other PM members in good standing, on projects like this.

WTF? Over.

I'm not sure if that was some attempt at humor or a genuine question in your head, but feel free to walk away now.

Everyone else feel free to keep the referrals coming. Thanks.

Evidently you didn't see the hf mill CNC thread...I'll move along

Milland · Jul 24, 2018

Whysosharp said:
The only other CO. I can think of would be Sandvik I’m sure their blanks are high quality but their pricing might be astronomical never actually looked into them

Could you adapt their scraper blanks? They come in different widths (not sure of thicknesses), but the cobalt percentage may not be ideal. I did pick up a bunch of blades pretty cheap, so bargains can be had (they seem legit).

Mud · Jul 24, 2018

A transmission guy near me gets custom form tools made by Kennametal.

AB tools does customs, might be a player for this.

implmex · Jul 25, 2018

Hi Zahnrad Kopf:
I assume you're planning to just silver solder these inserts onto a 4140 turned shank you've cut pockets into?
I usually just slice up some old endmill shanks on the wire EDM and braze them in place, then surface grind the faces and put on the profiles either with the wire or with the surface grinder depending on the shape.

I know it's painfully inefficient by most time management standards, but the slicing and dicing happens unattended, and you pretty much have to do all the other steps anyway.
I can always find a free hour or two to slip a job like this into the wire between paying gigs and I can usually buck off what I need in less time than I can find it in a catalogue

In the distant past, I've made cutters like you describe with plain rectangular carbide milling or turning inserts; the clamp-in kind with no center hole, but I'm not sure you can even buy these anymore.

The endmills I use are Garr, and I find they are decent quality carbide, and of course the biggest bonus is they're FREE.
I'm a cheap old fart so it gives me a small Scrooge-like pleasure to cheat the cutter sales guys out of a sale this way.
Did I mention I HATE digging around in catalogues looking for stuff like this?

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

Mtndew · Jul 25, 2018

Doesn't McMaster-Carr sell blanks?

BSCustoms · Jul 25, 2018

Home

This company also advertises for various custom insert profiles. might be worth a hit.

Zahnrad Kopf · Jul 25, 2018

Mud said:
AB tools does customs, might be a player for this.

Alf, Jon, Larry, and Quan are my default go-to for solids, but they do not do inserts and bodies. Only solids.

implmex said:
Hi Zahnrad Kopf:
I assume you're planning to just silver solder these inserts onto a 4140 turned shank you've cut pockets into?

Hi Marcus! Good to see you, Old Friend. No... These need to be inserts. Changeable. The form changes. I cannot go into detail here on the forum, but they need to be able to be swapped out.

implmex said:
Did I mention I HATE digging around in catalogues looking for stuff like this?
Cheers
Marcus

Ugh. Boy, howdy! You're not just forcing air between pursed lips to emulate Daniel Emmett's lyrics... It's been a struggle.

Mtndew said:
Doesn't McMaster-Carr sell blanks?

Aroo?

Off to go look... Thanks.

Zahnrad Kopf · Jul 25, 2018

BSCustoms said:
Home
This company also advertises for various custom insert profiles. might be worth a hit.

Thank you. Nice stuff, but they do not do any milling cutters.

For everyone -

Unless one of the new recommendations turns out to work out, it looks like we are relegated to purchasing and using rectangular blanks and EDMing the profiles we requires into those, which will then be assembled into a milling cutter body. I cannot go into much detail, but the bottom line is that this will slightly resemble a wood working moulding cutter. The forms will vary from 3/8" tall ( along the blank ) to just under 1" tall.

Thanks.

Mud · Jul 25, 2018

Did I mention I HATE digging around in catalogues looking for stuff like this?

I recently found *exactly* the tool I needed in the 286 page pdf Korloy catalog. Called Exkenna to order it. He told me "Oh there's lots of tools in there that don't exist".

tdmidget · Jul 25, 2018

plastikdreams said:
Evidently you didn't see the hf mill CNC thread...I'll move along

Guess your not "in good standing" anymore.

implmex · Jul 25, 2018

Hi again Zahnrad Kopf:
You're not gonna believe this but I just found rectangular carbide blanks for sale in the cheapass low grade KBC general catalogue on pg 160.
Here's a link to the online catalogue page:

KBC Tools & Machinery

They seem to offer them in rectangular bars up to 1/4 x 3/4 x 6" in grade C2.
Could this be made to work for you?

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

Where/Who To Purchase Carbide Blanks For Milling Tooling From

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