Best place to purchase router bits is?

[Designer]

I just picked up my new BT32 Standard with a 2.2 HP spindle about 2 weeks ago. I purchased the starter bit set with it. Now I am looking to purchase back-up bits, other bits, and specifically a 1/16 ball nose bit for carving. Onsrud appears to be a quality bit. I like Frued and Whiteside for my router table and hand routers. Can someone lead me to who makes the best bits for use on a CNC and where is the best place to purchase them? Thanks.

[ntraub01]

OH NO YOU DIDN'T...

Welcome to the forum.

Just my two cents...90% of my bits are Whitesides, 8% are Amana and I still have all of the Onsrud bits my machine came with minus the one I broke yesterday.

Honestly, you will need to familiarize yourself with a number of manufacturers depending on what you plan to do with you machine.

Though I have a Woodcraft store only 5 miles from my home I pickup nearly all of the Whiteside bits on ebay, Amana bits usually come from Toolstoday.com and I purchase Harvey Tool bits from Beaver Drill and Tool Company.

Best of luck. Get yourself a large organizer cabinet and brace yourself for your next large investment...the bits!!

[barrowj]

For small bits like 1/16 ball nose you might try drillman1 a seller on ebay - http://stores.ebay.com/id=2877033?ssPageName=STRK:MEFSXS:MESST&_trksid=p2053788.m1543.l2653

There are many other's, I check both ebay and amazon for most first and I always get a few inexpensive (at least less that full price from high quality mfg's) to play with until I get the process down on a certain type of cut.

Joe

[scottp55]

I second Drillman1 for 1/8" D shank bits. Haven't used the 1/16BN I bought yet(or his .25" 30 and 60), but 9 months of using his V 30-120 degree in .125" and love them. Just started using his .125 and .0625" EM's and have now swapped most old files to use them.
Fairly painless to build your small bit inventory and finding cut quality is excellent.
Very prompt delivery to Maine:)
scott

[Designer]

Thanks loads for the info. The idea of using a less expensive bit for trial runs sure beats using and breaking an expensive bit.

[scottp55]

Forgot...Stock up on collets....break or spin a bit, and collet is almost always trashed! (unless you Like buying a new spindle just because the cone is trashed? :)
Depending on usage(People correct me if I'm wrong!) 300-400 hrs collet and 1,000 hrs nut seems to be "Normal" with no "Catastrophic Events".
On my third 1/8" ER-20 collet and second Nut now after 18months moderate? use.

[Steve Wonser]

Scott,

How can you tell if a collet / nut is bad? Do you measure something, keep track of the number of hours of use or something else?

Thanks,
Steve

[Burkhardt]

Scott,

How can you tell if a collet / nut is bad? Do you measure something, keep track of the number of hours of use or something else?

Thanks,
Steve

You can measure runout with a dial gage. If that changes significantly from your baseline using the same bit or better calibration blank the collet (or something else in the spindle) may be damaged. Also if you run slowly through the rpm range and find a vibration that was not there before it may be another sign. Runout measurement and tramming check are some items of my quarterly preventive maintenance routine.

That said, I have a cheap Chinese 2.2kW spindle for 4 years now and have abused it as well as the collets with broken bits, bits worked loose and collisions and yet have to replace a collet. Well, actually I did replace the collet nuts with ball bearing ones but not for damage reasons.

[scottp55]

Steve,
For Some bit breaks(like the Shopfox idiot move) I did not replace. For the Teak idiot move where I misplaced decimal point and engraved On the line 1.5" deep with a 2" bit:( Easy to tell as collet and nut wouldn't come apart due to resin in smoke I replaced BOTH as even after cleaning collet AND cone with denatured it just didn't tighten the same(squishy).
NOTE: I was amazed at the Gunk in the spindle cone and now wipe cone with denatured about once a week depending on use until it's clean and then swipe with paper towel with Dri-Cote,BUT NOT sure that's the best as there are spindle lubes and others use different products(Mainly just for corrosion prevention).
1/4" eventually didn't snug up the same with the same exact bits and was just considering replacing it when I stuck a 61-040 in when tired and forgot the overlength Gullet and clamped on it:( and immediately noticed the next bit did Not go in smooth.
When you inspect bit/collet/nut at each tool change, look for unusual marks/uneven wear.
Not experienced enough, and probably to cautious, But some of these make good reading;
https://www.google.com/search?q=let%27s+talk+shopbot+worn+collet+site:www .talkshopbot.com&biw=1280&bih=664&sa=X&ei=uCIoVZCNFvGwsATSxYEQ&ved=0CDoQrQIoBDAA#q=let%27s+talk+shopbot+worn+coll et+site:www.talkshopbot.com&start=0
Thinking of trying those Nuts G. mentioned as people seem to really like them, and probably will as soon as next nut goes on.
HOPING those with more experience will chime in?
scott