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Are they all that different from each other?? Is one more preferable? If so, why?

Thanks as always for your input!

I LOVE my ball end mill. I wish I had more of them. For one, they're much shorter, so they're extremely sturdy. S&D bits have to be rounded off to get the profile we need, and unless you're good at sharpening them (which I'm not) they can cut rough.

Now, assuming they're both sharp, they will both cut well, but with a ball end you're only going to get a perfectly round profile which doesn't work as well for all pipe designs.

That's my experience anyway...

I've searched for ball end mills that are long enough to cut chambers but the only ones I've found in the diameters I need are ridiculously expensive. Does anyone have a reasonable source? The only other benefit I see to custom S&D bits is that you can shape them to whatever preference you like as opposed to the ball end mills.

Wayne, I just bought this one from Enco.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAK ... PG=INLMK32

I haven't used it yet, but plan to tonight. Looks like a good bit. I'll let you know how she does.

Long series ball mills can be expensive but worth the investment, look out for offers etc. If you can only get a short one but have a metal lathe then you can add an extension. i recently got a 5/8" bit for doing narrow stack chambers but it wasn't long enough so I turned down the shank and added a extension from a piece of scrap brass, now it is plenty long enough.

Yeah, S&D bits are cheaper and longer. Ball end mills probably cut cleaner depending on how good you are at shaping your own S&D bits but they just don't sound like they are worth the hassle to me.

Found a 3/4" ball endmill on the Grizzly site last night for about $20.

Ocelot55 wrote:Found a 3/4" ball endmill on the Grizzly site last night for about $20.

Good spot! The cheaper ones will be fine for pipe making. As I said earlier if they are not long enough you can turn down the shank and add an extension though I will say that turning HSS is not for the faint hearted!

If you had to choose between a ball end mill and a ground down spade bit for freehand drilling a tobacco chamber, which would you choose?

UberHuberMan wrote:If you had to choose between a ball end mill and a ground down spade bit for freehand drilling a tobacco chamber, which would you choose?

Again, others with more knowledge will chip in, but I don't think most ball end mills are long enough for many chambers. Of course, if you're a stud like Caskwith you can create additional length with your metal lathe (sigh), but without that,

I'm going with the spade bits, cheap as hell and they do the job wonderfully. I am a total noob and I've ground down two spade bits that work great.

Star off with spade bits, they are cheap to make, and fairly easy to make any profile you want. I use spade bits all the time for my tapered chambers.

UberHuberMan wrote:If you had to choose between a ball end mill and a ground down spade bit for freehand drilling a tobacco chamber, which would you choose?

Neither.

Of the two, spade bits are more versatile. You can't reshape a ball end mill to meet the needs of the pipe shape.

If by freehand drilling you mean holding the block in your hands........ I'd not try it at all with spade bits....... you'll end up with a broken something!!!!!!

Real men freehand drill with spade bits at the fastest speed their lathe will go. Cowboy up you nancies.

(Just kidding. Please don't do this.)