Chinese tooling

[racerbear02]

Another newbie question, I do apologise.

There are any number of 'cheap' carbide tools available from a huge range of suppliers.in China.

I am looking for tools for woodwork / carving / signmaking in plywood and hardwoods..

I am aware that you should always buy the best available, but at these prices, are the tools any good at all? worth getting,
or not?? bearing in mind I am a total novice to CNC routing and will probably end up breaking some due to inexperience.

I would appreciate actual experience replies as opposed to the general 'well I wouldn't do it' type if possible.

Thank in advance.

[EddyCurrent]

I use both cheap and expensive bits, cheap for roughing cuts or parts that don't need a great finish, then better quality cutters for finishing cuts or special cuts such as V carving, down spiral, etc.
cheap; http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Powe...+x+12mm/p67412
better quality; http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/...egree_719.html

As yet I've not bought any from China but I probably wil be trying some of the smaller ones like 1mm and smaller ball ended type, some time soon. If you search this forum there are a few 'preferred' sellers to look out for.

[racerbear02]

Thanks for the feedback. anyone actually used the tooling from China?, I guess most of the cheap stuff in the UK on fleabay is sourced their anyway.

A secondary question, I am intending to cut out birch plywood parts in sicknesses ranging from 4mm to 24mm, would a compression bit be the best thing to use to avoid tearing of the top and bottom layers? or is that not really needed?

Thanks again in advance.

[paulus.v]

I had the same question a few days ago and I've already ordered some of the cheapest Chinese bits on ebay. For the price I think it's worth trying them.

Yesterday I found a Taiwanese manufacturer of woodworking router bits, ARDEN, they have a wide range of tools and they seem to be good quality. There is only one Chinese supplier on ebay and the prices are about a quarter of the European quality bits. Now I'n curious to see how good they are. If anyone's interested I'll post back when I receive and test them.

[Boyan Silyavski]

Hi,

I have been there.
I have used some Chinese tooling before 2 years when i started. At the same time i bought some USA made bits.
The Chinese were crap. Worked but not as good. Broke 3 times more/my machine is flimsy/. Cost just a bit less. Not so sharp, not so polished.

My advice is visit ebay, find Drillman1 shop and at the prices he sells Kyocera bits, forget about Chinese. http://www.ebay.es/itm/3-00mm-1181-C...item58b63b6edf

I have all my set up using mainly Kyocera bits. i doubt that anything better can be found even at similar price. These are strong, super sharp, durable, nicely polished bits.

Yeah, better that Freud, Bosch, CMT, that cost 4-5 times more.

Now i would test other bits only if they are something i need and could not find there. But 3mm, 6mm, V bits and so i buy from there.


Hope that helps.

[Jonathan]

I get the vast majority of my cutters from whichever seller on www.aliexpress.com happens to be the cheapest at the time. Once I did get a lot which were brittle, so not much good, but other than that they've been fine. I mainly get single flute cutters (1.5-8mm) and PCB cutters, but sometimes others. Bear in mind though I rarely cut non-metals.

[malenko]

You will need compression spirals when using birch ply to stop break out on the cross grain. Preferably an up down cut too to stop break out on both face unless you use a matrix bed with a spoil board, then just use a down cut.
I've just finished machining a kitchen for a customer which was totally in birch ply but the problem was I was getting rippling on the edge from the layers, and that was with a fresh cutter too so would be interested in how others have solved this.
Try the Chinese cutters for your smaller sizes, they usually are ok, may not last long but for the price. Anything over 10mm diam I would say get some better quality ones.

[iain1mm]

I know this is an old thread but this may be of use to someone!
I use a lot of different 1/8 solid carbide chinese cutters and have found them to be really good on the whole. I get the odd one that snaps after a couple of minutes but they are so cheap it doesn't really matter that much.
I have had good results on veneered mdf and birch ply using 1/8 single flute downcuts. If your spoilboard is freshly surfaced and you can vacuum the sheet down flat, there is no breakout on the bottom face to speak of. An added bonus when using these cutters has been that the waste gets rammed back into the kerf and I can often get away with routing fairly small parts without any tabs as the chips hold it in place.
Had good results with chinese two flute 6mm upcuts as well and always keep a box handy as they are so cheap. larger cutters and 6mm or over compression bits, I tend to buy elsewhere as the prices seem to level out a bit. Scott and Sargent have been reasonable and good quality.
1/8 carbide engraving bits have been really good too for v carving and finsh passes on 3D reliefs

[Gustave]

Hi Boyan, Are you still using Kyocera Bits, Could you update the shop adress please ?
Gustave