Tapping fluid from Union Butterfield (ashville,NC) I buy mine from E.M. Wick in Dayton, Ohio phone# 1-937-293-5330 The bottles I buy are 2.5" dia. X 7" tall. I think it was only $25 for case of 6? several years ago CHEAP...It is THICK, clear,oderless? It Works!!, taps in a Bridgeport that (hand-tapping,center guided) that will not go in with anything else , will start cutting again in stainless. Never have seen anything else even close. I use it for all steels, except aluminum. I am so amazed to never see it in catalogs. Yet an old toolmaker in Denver turned me on to it 23 years ago, he had used it at Cobe Labs and still had a little bit left.

I am a shop owner(small), I have heard its very competitive on bid sites, and believe you have to pay them ,buts its free for people shopping(BARGAIN HUNTERS!!!!!!!!)for suppliers. I would not waste my time or resources. Better to target customers and give them the bargain. Lets face it,the "good" customers have people lined up outside their door. Join in that line and do NOT give up. 75 percent of life is just showing up or something like that!

use UNION BUTTERFIELD drilling and tapping fluild(asheville NC 28813) for small taps in stainless. stuff is cheap and really makes a difference.

Ditto, virgin HS-cobalt endmills that have never touched steel and are still SHARP! Not sorta-sharp...night and day difference.

If you want to hold tight tol. on lathe put a .0001(.0002 on the diameter )and .0002 on the Z-axis digital readout on it. This will register actual tool movement and eliminate stick slip issues on a cheaper machine. I would rather have a well tooled cheap machine than an expensive machine with no tooling, if money is tight for awhile. Also there are incredible buys in machine tools right (used) do not be in a hurry while you learn market (go to machinetool.com) I would buy a bridgeport mill with a .0002 readout and add a Moore # 3 Jig Bore (gotta be # 3 -has double v ways) for .0001 hole positions and "light precision milling" seen several for asking price of less than $3,000 in Ohio. Some real bargains in Ohio... Mohawk machinery in cinncinatti, Advanced Machinery in Dayton, there is a liquidation type place in cleveland real low cost ,machinery something I think? can't think of exact name,all have web pages and prices. The world has really change price wise in last 3 years.

you may consider working double disc grinding in the process, it grinds off both sides at the same time which reduces distortion and warpage. I know TCI Aluminum in california does this.In milling flat I would use a flycutter with HS bit "lots of sharp knife edge rake" going across the part short wise i.e.if part is 4" by 20" I would not go all the way across making 20" passes rather cut across 4" way . may have to keep flipping part. I learned in grinding, heat is what causes part to warp. i.e. if I had to take .010, all of of ONE side for enginenering change, I can do this only with small .0005 passes with coolant.

Gages, then gaging fixtures, then "mastercam "masters to set fixtures.

What is the BSA?? (when I was a Triumph MC wrench as a kid it stood for "xxxx Stopped Again" excuss my french).

My experiance with electtrode materials is :just because it costs more does not mean its better,depends more on the application, for most jobs the cheaper graphite not only machines faster but seems to burn faster in the real world.My experiance is limited to conventional sinkers-25 years mold making and general tool work.

To also add; you can gundrill rectangles and wondered if you tried drilling at slower rpm like 250 to eliminate any melting action.

Could they be gundrilled?, that will drill long absurdly deep holes on location, also the thing about using carbide drills as deep as possible is, they do not deflect and walk(more prone to breakage,but you are doing plastic)...I wonder if plastic is building up around drill tip? I know the BIG SECRET to drilling holes "to size and location" is a properly sharpened drill-PERIOD..good luck!

For tapping in stainless steel Butterfield tapping fluid is simply,truley amazing.I have seen dull 6-32 taps in bridgeport that won't go....will tap with butterfield. Plastic bottle says Union Butterfield. Asheville,NC. I buy mine from E.M Wick co. Dayton, Ohio 937-293-5330. This stuff is sooo good it blows my mind. Its cheap also.

A lot of "how to" books are not the greatest,BUT if you need to brush up on dies, or learn more about them ...MSC industrial supply sells "Die Makers Handbook" for $27.95 ea. It is excellent!J&L supply may also sell it. Might help. It really is informative and logical.

If a burn is not going well, # flush, flush,flush(need good flushing) sometimes even less amps will actually burn better and putting an AM radio next to edm you can hear burn better by listening to static.

If you are fly-cutting, use LOTS of positive rake to keep from getting chipping action, hard to explain, but you want to cut material not chip it off. Coolant really helps, if only from a cheap spray bottle. Also more expensive end mills seem to cut more uniformly if optical clarity is an issue. If optical clarity is an issue,Mcmaster-Carr (on internet) sells plastic polish to remove scratches(in old days we use to vapor polish before knew un- healthy). Polishing with wet and dry 600 grit before polish and you can make part clear in a hurry, especially if polishing with orbital car polisher (new pad).

I am in Ohio and Fastech is excellent and I mean excellent, very helpful and answer questions pronto via phone or respond to my e-mail. Just my experience...

There are supposed to be around 850 shops in the Miami valley(Dayton,Ohio) area. Shops are up and down.There were around 25,000 people employed in machining, now down to 20K. A major industry in this town...

If people are not complaining about your prices, it is probably a sign your prices are too low(in generalities).Caveat emptor...let the buyer beware.

If you have trouble holding bore size all the way through, I would buy a portable hone from Sunnen Products in St. Louis,Mo. They have various sizes and styles(prices), some for use in a machine tool and some for a hand drill. Located in back of sunnen catalog if you have one. Speaking in generalities, I have had better luck holding tight tol. with smaller radius on inserts or boring bar.i.e. .007R works better than .o15R for holding size, but you trade some strenght for that. A simple 45 degree angle "dubbed" on the end of a boring bar works well for holding size and is strong. Do not know what that will do for an insert. On long bores(tight tol.) I have had better luck using cutting oil VS. coolant.Little things can add up to make a difference.

I use a 20 gal. shop vac. for carbon.Works great,BUT use special bags rated for fine dust(like drywall dust) and I also ordered the fine dust cloth pre-filter (circular, $15 dollars-ordered from factory form inside box for accesories).Have a total of 3 filters inside cannister.Every so often I shut vac off and bang it against floor to knock dust off filters(will get many more miles this way). Cheaper carbon material machines easier and sometimes burns faster(I think).

First time; must say have learned a lot from this site, do lots of print outs for future ref. Own a small shop doing a variety of work from machine parts through gages and molds. Doing the programing learning curve...bought surfacing couple of months ago..thanks again!!