Not so smug after all... (Pesky milling cutters)

[Beanwood]

OK, I admit to feeling really pleased with myself after I FINALLY bought a drill sharpener, snd my drills have never been so sharp and easy to use!!
But then.... I was gifted a small mill and numerous DULL end mill/slot drill cutters

I know I can't sharpen drills by hand (Hence buying the tool to do it) - so all these mill cutters may as well be made of cheese for all the use they are to me.
Is there a tool I can buy to sharpen them - from the initial look around I'm asking for the impossible unless I buy a very expensive dedicated tool grinder?

 

[m_c]

You've answered your own question.
Milling cutter grinders are not cheap, and most are limited as to what they can actually sharpen.

There are second hand tool grinders around, or you could build your own (Quorn is probably the most commonly known hobbyist one), but with small cutters, it's less hassle just to buy new cutters when needed. And learn about speeds and feeds so you don't dull/snap them the first time they meet metal.

 

[Arc Tourist]

A universal tool & cutter grinder. Not cheap, but worth while in the long run if you are planning to be in the machining business.

 

[ukracer]

A universal tool & cutter grinder. Not cheap, but worth while in the long run if you are planning to be in the machining business.

View attachment 457013

How much is one of those?? Most machines I have seen not only being expensive but also have had a large foorprint.

In addition I am told there is a big learning curve to using them.

 

[Kram]

If you have a suitable grinder or spindle to mount a grinding wheel you can buy a U2 grinder attachement for about £100. It will grind the end of cutters. To grind flutes it requires some modification. I bought one a few months back but it is still in its box. (I dont have a mill only lathe and zoro had lots of cheap cutters!)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0CRRBR1CZ

Thread here

Modifying cheap D bit grinder head

@Kram suggested I start a thread on the D bit grinder we've each bought recently. I'll add some pictures of mine stripped down and some ideas I've had for flute grinding too.

www.mig-welding.co.uk

 

[ukracer]

If you have a suitable grinder or spindle to mount a grinding wheel you can buy a U2 grinder attachement for about £100. It will grind the end of cutters. To grind flutes it requires some modification. I bought one a few months back but it is still in its box. (I dont have a mill only lathe and zoro had lots of cheap cutters!)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0CRRBR1CZ

Thread here

Modifying cheap D bit grinder head

@Kram suggested I start a thread on the D bit grinder we've each bought recently. I'll add some pictures of mine stripped down and some ideas I've had for flute grinding too.

www.mig-welding.co.uk

I searched for U" on youtube and found this lol

 

[gaz1]

mine does the lot of them and its homemade

homemade brooks and stent cutter grinder

it appears that i have bought a homemade brooks and stent cutter grinder from ebay This is a shop-made tool cutter-grinder described originally in a pair of articles by Derek Brooks in the English magazine Model Engineers' Workshop, No. 16 (April/May 1993), pp. 60-65, and No. 17 (June/July...

www.mig-welding.co.uk

 

[Arc Tourist]

How much is one of those?? Most machines I have seen not only being expensive but also have had a large foorprint.

In addition I am told there is a big learning curve to using them.

I bought it off of a hobby machinist for about £300.oo if I recall. Its a bench top machine, and doesn't take up more space than a bench grinder, but is a heavy mass of cast iron. There is a diamond nib attachment for dressing the wheel, and it came with a manual for setup, which wasn't too difficult.

 

[Brad93]

I've got two spare cutter grinders

Alexander 2CG - british made versions of the machines linked above, which are all copies of the Deckel S0 grinder.

U2 is actually the style of collet they take.