So I bought some bits in the clearence section of Grainger. Specifically, a few 4 flute 1/4 roughing/finishing end mills with tialn coatings. I knows that’s overkill, but they were originally $63 each on sale for $8 and made for non-Ferous materials. So they were much cheaper than the double flute bits I have been using.
Haven’t tested them yet. Has anyone used similar metal bits for wood? Any hiccups with the feeds or speeds using these?
End Mill, 1/4", 4fl, .015" Rad, Tialn
Joe
that will be the day 
just kidding lol
but thats a good deal
so basically metal endmills are designed for metal milling equipment that run at much slower speeds and spindle rpms
the flute geometry is fundamentally different and a real problem is chip evacuation
I was actually having this same conversation with my tool rep the other day lol because your right there are alot of cool tools for metal that you cant find very easy in wood tools
So with that being said we can push the limits at bit I have used 4 flute metal tools in wood and they work decent as a finishing tool that meaning only skimming the profile .04-.0625"
they work well in most hard and softwoods but remember that some woods work well with climb milling and some with conventional milling
default is always conventional in woods to start
now you said the tool is not a square bottom and it has a radius of .015" just keep that in mind when machining a looking for a certain finish on inside profiles it will leave a fillet type look and on outside profiles your need to cut below the stock to avoid a sharp outward fillet
also they are coated TiAln which stands for “Titanium aluminium nitride” this is a heat resistant coating and really is nothing to worry about in theory it will make the tool last longer but we start getting into extremely technical stuff here and coatings are application specific and there is a science to them but honestly for working on the x-carve I would not expect longer tool life over uncoated carbide
I hope that helps
That does help. So they were actually “discontinued/mark down” items.
I was wondering about chip evac as well. Thanks for the reminder about the radius!
Joe
oh not a problem
so I am curious where did you find them? online on there site or at your local store?
Online. I have had a problem finding bits in northern VA lately. What I found out was when grainger shows a “discontinued/clearance” item, you have to call to place the order. The site generally will not allow you order through your business account due to limited supply. That and the wildfires in CA are slowing the shipment of orders out of some of the warehouses in that area.
Joe
