A $50 set of end mills from Amazon that seemed too good to be true

A few months back I grabbed a 10 pack of carbide end mills off Amazon for about $50. I figured even if they were junk, it was cheap enough to not feel burned. First job was some aluminum parts, and the first tool snapped on the second pass. No crash, just normal feeds and speeds I use with name brand stuff all the time. The other 9 went in the drawer and I went back to paying $25 each for the good ones. Has anyone else had luck with those bargain packs or am I the only one who got burned?

3 comments

3 Comments

rivera.simon1mo ago

Sounded too good to be true" is exactly right. I bought a similar pack and the first one snapped on a light cut in 6061, just like you said. I think they're made of cheese and marketed as carbide. The other nine are still sitting in my drawer looking sad.

skyler_fox721mo ago

Keep the other nine as a warning to future generations: "Here lies bad decisions and broken carbide.

gavinh2619d ago

The cheap stuff is almost never worth it. I learned that lesson the hard way with drill bits years ago. Those Amazon end mills might look the part but the material quality just isn't there. You can't substitute for proper carbide no matter how good the deal looks on paper. Better to buy fewer good tools than a pile of rejects.