Looking to purchase my first set of bits.
Any recommendations on what size and style a guy should start with?
Planing to cut cabinets and do some fine detailing plus surface my spoil board.
Thanks
I wouldnât get that one if youâre mainly looking to work with wood. Out of that set, Iâd probably only use the surfacing, tapered ball nose, compression and downcut bits.
Iâd start with this set, all of which I use regularly, then grab a surfacing bit and a 60 or 90 degree v-bit.
Dan
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Get the Jenny set from OneFinity. It will do you for most projects.
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Thats insanely overpriced for what is almost certainly the same chinese bits you can get off amazon for half that price.
This spetool set is a very good value and covers all the bases.
Starting out I would want a few 1/4 inch endmills, a few 1/8 inch endmills (and one or two longer ones to match any deep work i might need to clean up from the 1/4 inch endmills), a 60 vbit, a 90 vbit, and a few tapered ball nose bits for detailed 3d carves. Everything else I would buy as needs dictated.
If I were using a makita trim router, i would encourage you to just flatten with a 1/4 endmill. Big cutterheads on that router are nor a great idea for extended or heavy use. They can catch fire. Set a separate tool in your database for a 1/4 inch endmill with about 40% stepover and a very light depth of cut for surfacing, and run that sucker at superhigh IPM speeds. It will flatten your spoilboard or plane any boards down with a quickness.
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Hey Andrew Comchi @Comchinator, hey all,
A bit set is like a battery set: After having used the ones you need, youâre annoyed about the ones you paid for but will never need.
I buy only bits that are needed for a project. There, I take care to select reputable brands.
For a long time, these were only three that I bought:
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Offering my 2-bits worth (pun intended). First and foremost, the âJennyâ bits and other offerings from Onefinity are of high quality and cover a wide range of sizes and types, catering to most tasks. You canât go wrong starting with one of these sets. This will give you the opportunity to become familiar with the machine and, more importantly, to identify more specific types of tools you need.
For furniture making, my recommended bit list would be:
Flat End Mills (1/4" and 1/8" diameters): I always keep 2 or 3 copies of these basic flat end mills because they get used so much. I could see you using the 1/8" for things like shelf pegs or hinge pockets.
V-Bits (60 and 90 degrees): These are pretty much a go to, and can even be used for chamfers. You might consider a 30-degree bit if you plan to work on finer, thin-line details or use the V-Carve inlay technique. Avoid other larger angles like 120-degree bits unless you discover a specific need, and for angles smaller than 30 degrees, I would opt for a tapered ball nose.
Optional, or if youâre like me and like to stock up on tools (#bitprepper):
Ball Nose Bits (1/4" and/or 1/8"): Because not all vectors need to be flat or square! Also are pretty much mandatory for doing Moulding toolpaths.
Tapered Ball Nose Bits (1/4" and 1/8" if not smaller): Ideal for fine-detail 3D carvings and can sometimes replace V-bits for tasks like V-Carve tool paths.
Flattening (Spoilboard) Bits: While these are handy for flattening your MDF spoilboard, I also use them to effectively turn my machine into a 32" wide jointer. I use them on many workpieces as the initial step to ensure that the surface is not only flat but also parallel to my spindle. This guarantees precise accuracy for subsequent operations like V-Carving. However, itâs worth noting that a regular 1/4" end mill can achieve the same results, albeit at a slower pace. I personally like the one from SpeTool (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C6XMCXD3) which has replaceable, and rotateable, inserts.
Another bit resources, and brand, I would like to shamelessly plug would be Bits & Bits (bitsbits.com). They are a fantastic, family-owned, store with good prices and fast, reliable, shipping.
And, as others have mentioned, if youâre on a budget, or want to experiment, I have been really happy with the quality from the manufacturer SpeTool available from Jeff Bezos.
Then, thereâs the venerable, high quality (and more expensive) offerings from Whiteside and Amana tools. Both of which I do own, but only for a couple specific bits.
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If you are anything like me and break a few bits because of your own ignorance i would start off with some cheaper bits like the spe bits mentioned by others. I have lots of these and they actually cut very well given the price and have tool catalogs you can import into a variety of programs which come in very handy when learning feeds and speeds
I can also atest to the Jenny bits and bits and bits and have many of these very high quality bits and highly recommend when you are more comfortable with your workflows.
Good luck!
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Haha just saw this and can totally relate
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For cutting plywood the 1/4" and 3/8" compression bits are my workhorses.
I totally relate to hording bits, mostly because I donât throw them out lol. Would be nice if there was a reasonable way to get them sharpened but most services are more expensive than a new bit.
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Iâm a big fan of bits by Hozly. I get them on amazon Canada, and many are made of tungsten, so they stay sharp for a reasonably long time.
Like others have recommended, a mistake can break a bit pretty fast, so buy a few copies of the bits in your favourite sizes/style.
Also, if you can get different size collets for your router, you can save allot of money buying smaller diameter shafts that match smaller bits. For example, I have a Carbide 3D router, and it uses ER11 collets, so I bought a collet set that includes sizes from 1mm to 7mm (the router came with 1/8 and 1/4). So I regularly use 1/8 and 6mm shaft bits.
Anyway, luck and enjoy your machine.
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Look up Cody at Cadence Manufacturing. Great bits Great company!
I see a lot of somewhat negative input for SPE bits, I use them a lot and have no issue, can someone tell me why I should spend 3-4 times as much for Amana for example?
Maybe other brands last longer, or seem sharper, not sure.
Thanks, Pat
Yeah, I bought a set of Amanas when starting out as well as some SPE bits to mess around with. Iâve since ordered more SPE bits because they work fine.
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I feel the same way you do. I have purchased a wide variety of endmills from many different manufacturers/suppliers, and so far all are performing well. My arsenal ranges from very expensive Datron and Onsrud endmills to SpeTool, with the latter showing no signs of being inferior.
I do not currently do any production work, so do not have the comparisons some users offer of Brand X lasting longer than Brand Y. I still find most user evaluations to be qualitative only, which to me has less value. I like data and numbers, so I would be more interested in knowing facts about their end mills - such as the composition and structure of the carbide blanks used - which from my understanding can greatly increase cut quality and longevity, but also can add significantly to cost. If it can then be shown that these higher priced end mills with higher quality carbide, better geometries, etc. outperform (quantified evidence) less expensive end mills I would pay attention. Without knowing such aforementioned details, I imagine much of what I read to be marketing strategy or brand loyalty, both of which I can understand.
For now, I will continue to purchase from various sources and try different products. I will add that as a Canadian, many cross border options become prohibitively expensive when shipping, etc. are added to total costs. For me this is one reason I like to have some Canadian manufacturersâ end mills, as well as others that are relatively inexpensive and quick and âfreeâ to ship, like SpeTool.
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After owning a large machine shop most of my working life, machining everything from 1018 to 4140, 4340, Inconel, Monel, Hastelloy and so on, it seems that the same carbide tooling for metal would last forever in wood.
Funny how they do get dull after a while, I think you notice it in wood more than metal.
Pat
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I found an interesting discussion a while ago on the Carbide3D forum. This particular post was informative in its overview of end mills and their various featuresâŠ
https://community.carbide3d.com/t/recommended-end-mills/161/12
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For smaller (1/8 and under) the seller âoliver tool companyâ on ebay sells bits very affordably. Most are 1/8 shank and he has about a zillion offerings. Many are highly niche or for PCB use, but its worth checking out. I bought two boxes of 50 1/16 endmills for next to nothing (i think $30 a box?) with the expectation that they would break like crazy. Iâve broken one and worn out one and its been almost a year.
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