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Blew $80 on fancy carbide end mills that chipped on the first pass
Bought a set of those nano-blue coated end mills from that online supplier everyone talks about and the 1/4 inch one snapped cutting 6061 aluminum at standard feeds. Anyone else have luck with cheaper brands holding up better?
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mileslane5d ago
Oh man, I feel your pain... I did the same thing last month, dropped like $90 on those fancy coated ones and my first 3/8 bit chipped on some 7075 at barely any depth. I've been using those cheap YiGong brand from Amazon, the 5 pack for like $25, and honestly they last longer in my hand. Something about the coating on those expensive ones feels brittle, like they're too hard and just snap instead of wearing down.
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Your 6061 aluminum ain't exactly butter, so maybe that bit was just garbage from the start, @mileslane. Those YiGong packs are flimsy too, they just feel longer lasting cause they're soft enough to deform instead of snapping clean.
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