# Endmills and wood



## gav (Oct 12, 2009)

Seeing as I don't have a workshop at the moment, I have been spending a bit of time reading about making things on the net.
One thing of great interest I have come across a couple of times is that there are some folks out there who use endmills in their routers to cut deep mortises.
This is of particular interest to me because unlike spiral router bits, I can find endmills here quite easilyand cheaply, even at the flee market.
So, anyone used them ?
Any thoughts on the matter ?
Those that have used them say they give very good results.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Hi Gavin, end mills work well with the router, however, because the shank is normally the same diameter as the cutter, it limits the sizes that can be used to the collet and available collet reducer sleeves. They are also normally made from tool steel which does not have the life expectancy of Tungsten carbide.


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## istracpsboss (Sep 14, 2008)

Hi Gavin

As Harry points out, tool steel doesn't last long in a router. The main reason is the vastly different operating speeds. Where you might use a 1/2" end mill in steel, with coolant, at 800rpm, the slowest your router will do is ten times that and with no possibility of coolant. The temper will go out of the steel and it will quickly blunt.

There are carbide end mills around, but they are of more recent development, designed for high speed CNC work and as I suspect most of the ones in Zagreb flea markets are out of old factories, they'll probably not be carbide.

Cheers

Peter


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## Duane867 (Oct 25, 2008)

An up or down spiral wood bit essentially is an end mill. Just made from either carbide or HSS. If your thinking of using end mills because of the price point, that sounds "ok" but make sure the fit is proper in the chuck and be prepared to replace it frequently. ( as mentioned above.)
Personally, I would spend the $15.00 - $40.00 on a proper HSS or carbide spiral bit the 1st time around. You'll probably end up with the same cost or more in the end mills you'll replace after just a few cuts for each project. 

Just some food for thought.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

As I'm on record as saying many times here and elsewhere, there is no substitute for a tool made specifically for the job in hand.


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## Ghidrah (Oct 21, 2008)

Why are they called end mill?


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Endmill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://www.allwords.com/word-endmill.html
http://www.millanyangle.com/pressrelease2.htm
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