Official Luthiers Forum!

Well, the title says it all.

Fess up! What are your favourite sources, and most used bits for various tasks?

Drill Bit City
Onsrud
Robb Jack
Precise Bits
South Eastern Carbide

Just found the last source a few weeks ago and I am very impressed with their quality and sharpness of their V and straight 2 flute bits. Drill Bity City has great prices on 10 packs of carbide small fractional bits. Robb Jack has one of the largest selections of micro bits but the are not cheap.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Cutting Edge Technologies and Precise bits. I'll have to take a look at Tim's suggestions.

Standard end mills are from OSG
Specialized cutters from Micro100, Ridiculous, or American Carbide
Micro cutters from Precisebits

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Thanks for the links, plenty of good stuff there.

I was also curious about what sized bits people like for specific applications. My hunch is a 1/2" ball nose stub will do a lot of the work, slightly longer reach for things like acoustic guitar necks, and a variety of bits from precisebits (and the endmills I have from CET already) for inlay and fret slots, and a few straight sqaure endmills for machining MDF and Phenolic for molds. I'm also having a look at the Amana Tool round bit Nelson linked to. Does anyone use 'normal' carbide tipped router bits for much?

Don't bother: they're more expensive and lower quality than solid carbide cutters. The only case in which I'd use a brazed router bit is if I was routing some sort of profile (like moulding) or when I need a roundover cutter.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Most everything from tiny mills, four flute mills, ball and bull nose endmills, taps and drills from McMaster-Carr because they almost always arrive the next day and they have virtually everything except the odd thing. They carry decent or better quality.

Counter-rotating matched sets from Onsrud. Top notch quality on everthing they do. Never cheap.

Custom made tiny stuff from Cutting Edge Technologies.

- For surfacing operations I always use a four flute bull or a four flute ball mill 1/2" to 3/4". A router turns way faster than my mill though so four flutes works better for me.
- For drilling wood I always use a sharp endmill. I peck at the hole and dwell at the bottom for a few secs...if it's a drilling op. Or I might interpolate a hole if I can but I never drill wood with actual drills when I want an accurate hole.
- For face milling I use a bull nose cutter (rounded corner) or an indexing face mill or a shell mill....but they all have rounded edges.
- For contoured edges I use a ball and step down outside the contour until a depth equalling half the tool diameter is reached. Then I can use a bigger mill and take bigger bites after that without ripping.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Robb Jack
Precise bits
and for any one cutting Aluminum you should check out Data Flute

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com