Breaking cutters machining aluminium

[John S]

To be honest I have found that most of these carbide engraving cutter take the tip off far to easily, makes sense when you think about it as carbide is a sintered powder and has no grain as such.

Recently I have been grinding my own up from 6mm HSS drill blanks, don't last as long as carbide but once you have the D shape they cam be resharpened in about 2 minutes. Plus bit is you don't scrap a job because it takes the tip off 1 hour into a 3 hour job.



8" x 3/4" all done with HSS tool.

[Jonathan]

Think I've seen that photo before somewhere ...

I'll have to try the drill regrinding suggestion. I've kept any drills I have snapped (thankfully few) to regrind into spot drills. They seem ideal for that.
Oh just noticed you said drill blanks, not drills. Just a D shape?