TIL those cheap Chinese end mills are not worth the savings

I spent $150 on a set of 20 carbide end mills from an online seller last month, thinking I was getting a deal. Every single one chipped or snapped within 20 minutes of cutting aluminum on my Haas. Has anyone found a budget brand that actually holds up, or is it strictly name-brand from now on?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo_cooper17d agoTop Commenter

Hey, didn't you read that thread on Practical Machinist a few weeks back? A guy there tested like six different cheap carbide brands and basically said the same thing you're saying now. He found that some of the "YG-1" and "Titan USA" stuff from Amazon worked okay for light steel but not aluminum, because the coatings flake off and the edges aren't sharp enough. So yeah, it seems like you really are stuck with name-brands like Helical or Kennametal for anything harder than plastic. Even the cheap solid carbide from China usually has bad grind marks that cause it to break right away.

jade_hernandez17d ago

I actually saw that thread on PM too, and I remember the guy had some pretty specific test conditions. He was running like 0.050" doc on aluminum with a 3/8" endmill, which seems a bit wild for cheap tooling. I wonder if he was just pushing them too hard for what they're actually meant for. I've used YG-1 on aluminum plenty of times with lighter passes and never had the coating flake off, but I'm also not trying to hog metal like it's a rougher. Seems like everyone wants to blame the tool instead of the setup sometimes.