Mini Mills
From a watchmaker's estate.

Get a load of this tiny endmill. The other blob is a .20 caliber air-gun pellet. There many tiny envelopes with many different tiny sizes. I picked them up at a gentleman's estate sale in Elgin Il. In the first picture you can see the dividing line between the tungsten end of the tool and the steel shank. In the second picture, there is barely enough focus to see that the mill has 5 cutters. How do you make a 5 fluted cutter that's .0128 in diameter?


The envelopes are labeled "T.C." (Tungsten Carbide) Then a 4 digit number example: "8797" "Crescent Cutter".
Then the size: ".0128" Then the word "research". Then the name "G. Soper". A quick search of G. Soper turns up a "Glenn T, Soper" named on a patent assigned to the Elgin National Watch Company in 1952.

Pretty cool. The shank of the cutter is tapered, but I can't find a reference to any taper that small. I would have enjoyed seeing the lathe or milling machine (treadle powered of course.) that this tool was made for.

Click on a picture for a larger image.