Where to buy bits?

[Jacobsonr]

Hello
Where is a good place to order bits from? My students have crashed and broken two bits. I looking for quality inexpensive bits.

Suggestions for cutting 3/4 pine, oak and ash?

Thanks
Robby

[knight_toolworks]

only two bits that's not doing bad.
http://www.centuriontools.com/index....05519234587759 for cost effective bits. I use 1/4" or larger downcut bits for solid woods.

[Xray]

Quality & inexpensive are almost always mutually exclusive, as you know.

http://www.precisebits.com/

[Jacobsonr]

Thanks guys, that's great. Only 2 so far and two big gouges in the table of my new showboat desktop :0(

I know the 4x8 machines are bit different, does anyone have suggestions on a false top for desktop model.

[Jacobsonr]

I did see these. Good or bad?
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece...set-66733.html

Thanks again,
You all are great help for a new showboat owner

[bleeth]

If it's solid carbide they would tell you! HSS won't last hardly at all in a cnc cutting wood.
Unfortunately,all the cheap bits give poor results.
Centurian is reasonable.
Could you post a picture of your showboat? Lot's of boat builders on the forum.

[Roy Harding]

Thanks guys, that's great. Only 2 so far and two big gouges in the table of my new showboat desktop :0(

I know the 4x8 machines are bit different, does anyone have suggestions on a false top for desktop model.

I realize this question is a few months old - but as nobody else has answered, I thought I'd tell you what I did.

I mounted a 28 1/2" X 24" piece of 1/2" plywood to the aluminum bed of the Desktop. I used countersunk machine screws, which screwed into the mounting brackets which came with my Desktop (the brackets are oval shaped pieces of metal with a threaded hole in them - they are made to slide in the tracks of the aluminum bed).

I then zeroed the X/Y axis using the proximity switches (C3 Command), and used the Shopbot to carve a 1/8" deep pocket 24" X 18" (the max carving area of the Desktop) into the plywood. Then I used contact cement to install a 24 X 18 piece of 1/2" MDF into the pocket. This enabled me to screw two fences to the plywood, to the left and bottom of the MDF sheet. By using these fences to position my workpiece, the bottom left corner is consistently located at X/Y Zero.

Whenever the MDF becomes too chewed up to use, I flatten it until all imperfections are gone, then contact cement another piece of MDF onto it - then I flatten the new sheet of MDF after the contact cement has dried. (I usually put a new sheet onto the bed as the last thing in a day, then flatten it first thing in the morning).

I do recall that getting the original 1/2" plywood onto slid onto the aluminum bed was a pain in the a$$ - but you only have to do it once.

This setup has served me well for almost a year now - I carve many small parts, using 23 gauge pins to hold the blanks to the MDF - never had a problem.

If the above is not clear - send me a PM and I'll send photos of my setup.