Tried going cheap on end mills from Amazon vs. paying up for name brand ones and wow what a difference on a 20 part aluminum job last month.

The cheap ones chattered so bad I had to rerun half the parts and the finish looked like garbage, has anyone else burned money on bargain bits just to learn the same lesson?

3 comments

3 Comments

colescott14d ago

Saw a guy on YouTube test cheap vs name brand end mills and the results were brutal.

-1

wren23014d agoTop Commenter

And the crazy part is the cheap ones weren't even close on surface finish either. I watched that same video and it really opened my eyes to how much the coating matters on those. People think they're saving money but they end up burning through parts and wasting time on tool changes. The difference in tool life was like 4 to 1 in favor of the name brand stuff. Plus the cheap ones chatter way more on stainless steel which is just frustrating to deal with. Have you noticed a big difference in your own setup or are you still running budget end mills?

charles72013d ago

Oh yeah, I saw that same video. The part where he showed the AlTiN coating just flaking off the cheap ones after like two passes made me laugh. I mean, it's like buying a pair of boots made of cardboard and being surprised your feet get wet. I switched to name brand stuff a while back after I spent a whole afternoon chasing a finish on some 316 and realized the budget end mill was basically just a metal crayon. Sure, they cost more upfront, but I'd rather pay for a good cut once than spend all day swapping out dull bits and yelling at my machine.