I now have nearly (40) used Amana HSS1621 end mills. After my original post I contacted somebody I found online & they said that I didn’t have enough to meet their $100 minimum. I probably do now so I tried contacting them again. I can’t even get a response, so I’m done with them.
Do any of you know of somebody who might be interested in sharpening these for me? I don’t think it matters much where in the country they are… it would be cheap to send these anywhere.
Oh wow, yeah, that’s worth it to sharpen them. Sorry I didn’t give you all my information then. Here’s what I have researched about sharpening previously. I dug up 2 companies that would sharpen endmills for me with no minimum quantity. I priced them out based on sharpening a 1/4", 2-flute endmill.
Service Grinding & Sharpening (Blaine, MN)
HSS: $8.50
Carbide: $11.50
Nucut Grinding (New York)
HSS: $3.80
Carbide: $7.95
Based on those prices and depending on your location, I’d recommend you call Nucut and get a quote from them for your single flutes.
Also, what are you milling that makes you eat through those endmills so much? Or are you just pumping out parts?
I think that a big question is the quality of the work. I would ask them to sharpen a some of them and see if they cut properly and if they hold their edge. Is Service grinding doing a better job than Nucut? Maybe some have already done this and can provide a reference for a good service at a reasonable price, maybe one of those two companies is better than the other.
Nucut’s the one that hasn’t responded (and that had a minimum). I haven’t called yet but I probably won’t. I don’t feel good about using them. I’l try the other one.
I guess I’d say I’m pumping out parts? At first I wasn’t sure if I was getting a typical life out of them, but I know now that I am. I could probably buy a better mill, maybe carbide & maybe coated that would last longer but I’d pay 5X more.
And Luc - yes, I’m hoping to have somebody sharpen a few so I can see how well they work. This would be so much easier if I could find somebody locally!
I found a local shop which sells endmills using Harvey’s “Locate a Distributor” page — I haven’t asked, but I’m sure they’d put me in touch with a shop for sharpening if they didn’t offer that service themselves.
As for the other folks. They’re local to where I live and seemed to know what they’re talking about when I chatted on the phone. If you ship some endmills to me, I could even swing over and deliver them in person and talk to them to vet them. They seem to cater to the woodworking market based on their website but handle all varieties of endmills/drills/etc.