Where to buy bits?

[Jacobsonr]

Hello
Where is a good place to order bits from? My students have crashed and broken two bits. I looking for quality inexpensive bits.

Suggestions for cutting 3/4 pine, oak and ash?

Thanks
Robby

[knight_toolworks]

only two bits that's not doing bad.
http://www.centuriontools.com/index.html?cart=1205519234587759 for cost effective bits. I use 1/4" or larger downcut bits for solid woods.

[Xray]

Quality & inexpensive are almost always mutually exclusive, as you know.

http://www.precisebits.com/

[Jacobsonr]

Thanks guys, that's great. Only 2 so far and two big gouges in the table of my new showboat desktop :0(

I know the 4x8 machines are bit different, does anyone have suggestions on a false top for desktop model.

[Jacobsonr]

I did see these. Good or bad?
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece-spiral-mortising-router-bit-set-66733.html

Thanks again,
You all are great help for a new showboat owner

[bleeth]

If it's solid carbide they would tell you! HSS won't last hardly at all in a cnc cutting wood.
Unfortunately,all the cheap bits give poor results.
Centurian is reasonable.
Could you post a picture of your showboat? Lot's of boat builders on the forum.

[Brady Watson]

Solid carbide end mills are the cheapest & highest quality option. Shop around or get to know your local tooling distributor.

-B

[tlempicke]

Amazon will sell yu bits at reasonable prices and ship them for free. The trick is to shop at a couple of sites BEFORE ou go to Amazon. The Amazon site looks at your cookies and prices their stuff according to what shopping you have done.

Cyberdickering!

[tlempicke]

Amazon will sell yu bits at reasonable prices and ship them for free. The trick is to shop at a couple of sites BEFORE ou go to Amazon. The Amazon site looks at your cookies and prices their stuff according to what shopping you have done.

Cyberdickering!

[Jacobsonr]

Sorry Dave no showboat, I really dislike auto correct.

[bleeth]

Oh Darn! I was really curious about what kind of showboat one would run up around Lancaster :rolleyes:
(Just a joke from an old Philadelphian!!)

[gc3]

http://www.discount-tools.com/webspecials1.htm

http://www.discount-tools.com/endmills1.htm

USA made work very well for the price...

[hh_woodworking]

Make sure that your students do an air cut of the file first. This will save a lot of money in bits;). I know from experience with students.;)

[Tom Peters]

I have been using and teaching CNC Routing with a Shopbot PRS 9648 in a Community College and I also use several home built machines and have bought bits from several companies. For most 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch spiral bits and 1/16 ball ends for 3d I use American Carbide. They are great and sell a good product at a reasonable price. I also purchase from Infinity, Bits and Bits (mostly 1/8 inch ingraving bits and other specialty bits. We do a lot of 3d and a lot of VCarving. The 60 degree laser point from Infinity ($29) is the best VCarving bit I have ever used and they last forever, if you don't drop them on concrete). I am still using one I purchased three years ago, although I just purchased six more for myself and friends. They are very popular around here. We use 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch down spirals the most for roughing 3d and for profile cutting out signs when finished. I hope this helps.

[Roy Harding]

Thanks guys, that's great. Only 2 so far and two big gouges in the table of my new showboat desktop :0(

I know the 4x8 machines are bit different, does anyone have suggestions on a false top for desktop model.

I realize this question is a few months old - but as nobody else has answered, I thought I'd tell you what I did.

I mounted a 28 1/2" X 24" piece of 1/2" plywood to the aluminum bed of the Desktop. I used countersunk machine screws, which screwed into the mounting brackets which came with my Desktop (the brackets are oval shaped pieces of metal with a threaded hole in them - they are made to slide in the tracks of the aluminum bed).

I then zeroed the X/Y axis using the proximity switches (C3 Command), and used the Shopbot to carve a 1/8" deep pocket 24" X 18" (the max carving area of the Desktop) into the plywood. Then I used contact cement to install a 24 X 18 piece of 1/2" MDF into the pocket. This enabled me to screw two fences to the plywood, to the left and bottom of the MDF sheet. By using these fences to position my workpiece, the bottom left corner is consistently located at X/Y Zero.

Whenever the MDF becomes too chewed up to use, I flatten it until all imperfections are gone, then contact cement another piece of MDF onto it - then I flatten the new sheet of MDF after the contact cement has dried. (I usually put a new sheet onto the bed as the last thing in a day, then flatten it first thing in the morning).

I do recall that getting the original 1/2" plywood onto slid onto the aluminum bed was a pain in the a$$ - but you only have to do it once.

This setup has served me well for almost a year now - I carve many small parts, using 23 gauge pins to hold the blanks to the MDF - never had a problem.

If the above is not clear - send me a PM and I'll send photos of my setup.

[WoodMarvels.com]

I get all my bits from Amazon - buying them in bulk as they need to be shipped overseas.

Jon

[chiloquinruss]

When I was getting started and in my really 'heavy' learning curve stages I used these guys:

http://www.eagleamerica.com/prod_detail_list/router_bits_-_ea?s=GOOGLE&gclid=CNzwrZywpbkCFYdxQgod6gUAYg

Most of their stuff is pretty good but you have to mic all of the bits because they may not be exactly what it says on the box! :D Russ