10-12-2024, 01:59 PM
(10-12-2024, 12:44 PM)rleete Wrote: I have a couple of countersinks that are many years old and have seen better days. After talking to the shop supervisor, he recommended a few brands which I looked up online. Holy cow, I had no idea how expensive they were. Typical sets of 5 are over $100. Then, just as I was about to give up, the supervisor emailed me a link to a used set on eBay.
$16, but two aren't original to the set. I stuck them in my cart, but had to take care of actual work, so I forgot about them. 15 minutes later, the seller offered them for $14. SOLD!
These are M.A.Ford brand, and all are in decent condition. Several look like they've never been used. All are sharp enough to cut aluminum cleanly, which is what I use the most.
As an aside, I tried sharpening the old ones. I put them in the lathe, ran the chuck backwards (slowly) and held a sharpening stone against the flutes. It did seem to help clean up the flutes somewhat, although they are nowhere nearly as nice as the new set. Since the old ones have a hex shank, the handle I use with them won't fit the new ones, which have a round shank. Luckily, I had saved the drill chuck from the HF drill I stripped to make my power feed, and that combined with an old screwdriver handle works well.
Good score!
Most of my countersinks are M.A. Ford bought new from Enco individually as I needed them.
Ed