Re: CAT40 Toolholders for Mini Mill
Hi Steve,
Since no one is answering your post I'll give you a little advice that will get my head torn off by the rest of the posters.
I have only two CNC mills but I have about a hundred tool holders, as I like to keep a bunch of tools handy. Some of them are name brand tool holders and others are Chinese. The latest batch I bought are cheap ones off of eBay. The quality of the holders from China and elsewhere has improved so much that they are hard to fault. Competition makes quality go higher. I can take one of the inexpensive holders with ER-16 collets and put a 1/4 inch endmill in it and do a drill plunge into a piece of material and not be able to put a 1/4 inch dowel pin in it afterward. The endmills are ground a tenth or two undersized as you may know.
The reason I say this is that if you want to get started and need a bunch of holders, you might want to experiment with a batch off of eBay and some US made and see if you can save money. Also remember that collet holding tools have to mate four different surfaces, but a single size holder mates only two. If you want to mount a 1/2 endmill, It is best to use a 1/2 holder not an ER-32 collet holder for a 1/2 in. endmill.
Lastly, since you have 10,00 rpm at your disposal, make sure to get ones that are balanced for the rpm.
Have fun with your new machine.
Mike
Two Haas VF-2's, Haas HA5C, Haas HRT-9, Hardinge CHNC 1, Bother HS-300 Wire EDM, BobCAD V23, BobCAD V28