[Kawasakian]

If you can find the ones that used the carbide inserts, that's the way to go. Cutters by the lb, I've never seen that. Gang Milling required such speecialized cutting wheels because every dimension was being cut at one. The widest I ever cut was a gang mill with 8 different cutting wheels. That set up on that took a very long time. Sikorsky actually put that arbor away as a single tool, as it was used often, and you could just change the inserts when dull.

 

[WFO-KZ]

I stumbled upon a 2nd hand shop in Maine that sold cutters by the pound. This included pre-ground HSS lathe toolbits of all kinds of shapes and sizes, so you could pick out exactly what you needed. There were gear cutters there by the boxful. They also had old machinery there. It was a fascinating place and I could have spent all day there, but eventually my wife had to drag me out of there.

 

[Kawasakian]

My milling machine was used for cuting gears by a guy who raced his Porsche. The ways are in excellent condition, and for a table top machine has an incredible movoement on X and Y axis movement. I wish the Z axis had a bit more space, but it does what I need. The pulleys are on it to convert the X and Y axis to CNC, which wouldn't be hard, I just can't justify the expense now. There are a lot of old machine shops tucked away in small towns in New England, and if everything lines up, like cash, and machine for salee, you can get some really good deals.