60° cutting tool.

Mach Two · 26-01-2021 4:10pm #1

I am looking for two items. A 60° cutting tool to cut a dovetail in a 60 mm x 20mm piece of steel. The dovetail is only 12 mm at its widest.

I am also looking for stainless steel grub screws with a nylon tip. M6 11mm long.

LastFridayNight · 27-01-2021 5:29pm

Amazon UK for both.

Mach Two · 28-01-2021 1:37pm

How good would the £10 be?

LastFridayNight · 29-01-2021 12:29pm

I think there's little difference between these tools in the £10-£50 price bracket. Most are unbranded, all are Chinese made, and all probably come from the same factory anyway. If you really want to satisfy yourself of quality, pre-purchase, you need to look at a Dormer or similar high-end tool maker. But then you're talking £60-£70+ for the same item. If you're buying this for a customer production run, and can't be faffing about with downtime or delivery issues- then Amazon, Banggood or eBay are not the places to be looking. But if your business isn't relying on it, these are very reasonable and cost effective options. Particularly if it's under the VAT threshold for purchases from the UK.

Things to look our for are item reviews, seller reviews, and shipping time. If an item on Amazon says it will ship in 2-3 days time, that often means its coming from China and will probably take a month or more to arrive. If on the other hand Amazon gives you a delivery estimate, it's more likely to ship from EU or UK. The other thing to look for is comeback. The good thing about Amazon is if the 3 party seller doesn't satisfy any issue you have, Amazon should be able to step in. That said, I've had a few issue with Chinese sellers in the past and was more than happy with the customer service.

Of course, a £10 HSS cutter isn't going to work on anything other than a mild steel where you've already milled out the bulk of the material, but I assume you already knew that. It is also not going to cut a very long dovetail before it gets dull- you'd need a carbide tool for that.

Mach Two · 31-01-2021 3:18pm

It is for a home project. The dovetail is 60 mm long.

LastFridayNight · 31-01-2021 4:08pm

Pretty short then, tool is worth a shot. Let us know how you get on, am intrigued. What sort of mill do you have?

Mach Two · 31-01-2021 5:45pm

I don't need it at the moment. The piece I have I filed it with a triangular file while I was watching tv. It had the correct 60° angle on it so it was easy enough to do it. If I have more pieces to do I would get a specialist tool for the job.

I don't have a milling machine of any sort. I wanted the tool to give to a machinist. It is very small. So most machine shops would not have one in stock. What kind of mill would you put it on. It looks like a flower.

Checked out the Dormer. £156 sterling.

Amazon UK don't have the grub screw that I want. So I checked Aliexpress and they have them. €1 delivered. I presume the quality will be ok as it's only a screw.

LastFridayNight · 01-02-2021 12:00pm

Any mill with the correct size collet.

Well done on the filing, I wouldn’t have the patience for that!

Mach Two · 01-02-2021 1:19pm

Filed as good as any machine would cut it. If I ever get the cutter I will get back to you and inform you as to its performance.

60° cutting tool.

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