Pete C. wrote:
How many have you broken?
Surprisingly few! They are amazingly tough, too! I had an accident
once where I
forgot to set the Z, and a 1/8" carbide end mill plowed full depth and
width through
a 1/8" aluminum panel at 60 IPM. It was cutting like it was meant to do
that until I hit
estop, and it broke then.
Iggy is just learning CNC *and* general
machining speeds and feeds, in my opinion, he doesn't need to be using
carbide tooling that he will have a much greater chance of breaking at
this point. He should also not be doing much with end mills under 1/4"
dia or so for a while until he gets the hang of things.

I cut a lot of 1/8" and thinner instrument panels with small holes for
pots and switches
and connector cutouts, and the 1/8" is just about perfect for that.
Generally, I cut everything
with the same cutter except for small holes for 4-40 screws and the
like. So, the 1/8"
end mill is becoming the general purpose tool here. At $3 - $5 each, I
don't cry a whole
lot when I break one, I buy 10 or a dozen at a time.

Jon