Genmitsu 5pc 4-Flute Carbide End Mill Set
This listing was out of stock at the last check. The link is kept so you can see whether it has returned.
Ten identical flat-nose cutters. Buying one geometry in bulk is how you stop treating bits as precious and start running the feed rate the chart actually recommends.
As a set, this is a breadth purchase rather than a depth one: it exists to cover a range of jobs while you find out which two or three geometries your work actually needs. That is the right first purchase and the wrong second one - once you know what you reach for, buying that geometry in quantity costs less per cut and removes the reluctance to push a cutter that leads to burning.
A 10-piece set is a considered selection rather than an assortment, which usually means it is the better second purchase once you know the geometries you use.
What a set like this will not include is a spare of the size you break most, or a collet to match if the shank differs from what your spindle currently holds. Both are worth ordering at the same time rather than discovering mid-project.
| Pieces | 10 |
|---|---|
| Coating | nano blue |
| Geometry | flat nose |
| Shank | 1/8 |
Matched by collet and shank size.
Starting points for a 3.18mm cutter with 2 flutes, taking a 1.59mm pass at the mid-point of each material's usual spindle range. These are computed by the same engine as the feed and speed calculator, not copied from a chart.
| Material | Spindle | Chip load | Feed rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardwood | 16,500 RPM | 0.1270 mm | 4,191 mm/min · 165 IPM |
| Plywood | 17,000 RPM | 0.1650 mm | 5,610 mm/min · 220.9 IPM |
| MDF | 17,000 RPM | 0.1905 mm | 6,477 mm/min · 255 IPM |
| Acrylic | 14,000 RPM | 0.1270 mm | 3,556 mm/min · 140 IPM |
Cutting diameter is not published for this product, so these assume a cutter the same diameter as the shank. If yours is narrower - a common combination is a small cutting diameter on a stout shank - put the real figure into the calculator, because the chip-load range moves with cutter diameter rather than shank.
Cutters do not announce that they are blunt. The edge wears round rather than chipping, so the first symptom is usually a fuzzy edge or a burn on a job that was cutting cleanly an hour earlier - and the instinctive response, slowing the feed, makes it worse by thinning the chip further.
Abrasive material sets the pace. MDF and composites consume edges several times faster than hardwood at identical settings, because the binder and the glass are harder than the wood fibre around them. Budget cutters as a running cost on those materials rather than as a one-off purchase, and keep a spare of whatever geometry you use daily so you are never tempted to nurse a dull one through one more part.
Before the first cut, put this cutter's diameter and flute count into the calculator with your material and spindle speed. Swapping to a bit with a different flute count at an unchanged feed rate is the most common way a working setup starts producing burnt edges.
Chip-load ranges for the materials this suits:
This listing was out of stock at the last check. The link is kept so you can see whether it has returned.