Yay, they’re here!
After researching which bits to get, I decided to go for Amana. Why? Well, I learned my lesson by going cheap first, ruin your project due to inferior quality tools, go to the shop to buy the proper tools, and replacement material for your project. In the end it is just cheaper - and more reassuring, to me at least - to buy and work with high quality tools.
All of them have a 1/4" shank, which means I won’t have to fidget with changing collets.
Here we go:
RC-2248* 1 1/2" Dia surface planer with replaceable blades
RC-1146 V-groove, 120 degrees, replaceable blade
RC-1142* V-groove, 90 degrees, replaceable blade
RC-1148* V-groove, 60 degrees, replaceable blade
RC-1145* V-groove, 45 degrees, replaceable blade
46170-K* 1/4" compression
46202-K* 1/4" spiral plunge
46200-K 1/8"spiral plunge
46403-K 1/16" spiral plunge
46294-K 1/4" Dia ballnose
46286-K 1/8" Dia ballnose
46285-K* 1/16" Dia ballnose
45632-K 45 degree engraving
45771-K* 30 degree engraving
45611-K 15 degree engraving
51470-Z 1/16" up-cut ZrN coated O-flute aluminum
45613 45 degree ZrN coated engraving
*This is a set of 8 bits, AMS-179, which I can highly recommend for those of you who are looking for a good starter kit for making signs, boards, etc. I then decided to add some more bits to complete the line-up of different diameters.
All bits that end with ‘K’ are Spektra-coated, which prolongs their lifetime up to 2.5x, according to Amana.
First impressions
So, I just opened the parcel and unpacked the bits. Firstly, packaging looks sturdy. No damage to the parcel. No damage its contents either.
The set AMS-179 comes in a nice wooden box with clear plexiglass window. The two V-groove bits are packed in individual boxes. The other bits are packed in the typical plastic containers.
The slightly round-over top of the shaft makes it easy to insert into the 1/4" collet. The |< icon shows how deep you should insert each bit. Another really nice feature is that Amana Tool provides its entire bit collection as tool database for both Fusion360 and Vectric (Aspire, Vcarve, Cut2D, cut3D, PhotoVCarve).
These V-groove bits have the advantage that the blades can be replaced. Especially when you’re tooling MDF, which is pretty tough on your bits, it is nice to replace the blade alone, which costs less than half of its counterpart bit without replaceable blades. Even if mid-run, you needn’t even take out the bit to replace the blade.
Over the next months, I’ll use these bits to see how well they perform on different projects. If there’s any interest, I can post my results here? Is there something specific you’d like to see for these bits?
Cheers from Germany,
Dennis
PS Let me know if you’re based in Europe and consider buying Amana bits.
But I will change that within the month of May. After all, a new house gives so many opportunities to use the CNC machine!