[Ken_Shea]

dertsap,
I agree with what you are saying, however, I do not remember reading where anyone said that 3 flute were best.

I would say that they are a very good comproimise, especially for the hobbiest where the expense of high end cutters in many configurations cannot be justified.
Heavy engagement is not going to fly on a Sieg X3.

pzzamakr1980,
So for 92,200 or such left over from not purchasing
That was pretty much my same thinking considering my expected use, when I purchased my mill.

EDIT:
And what I could afford


Ken

[pzzamakr1980]

Your right ken, no one did say they were the best, but as you stated they were a good compromise for what I have and what is affordable, how bout instead of best, Best for my expected uses.
Yeah, I like that whole affordable thing. It had a whole lot to do with the mill purchase, I didnt want to spend as much on a mill as Im going to be soon spending on a house. LOL

[mrk]

A couple of quick thoughts from fellow newbie.

My CNC is a big old Acroloc fairly cheap on ebay. I am pushing the RPM up a bit and my brother in law and I recently built a system to inject a mix of air/oil into the spindle bearings while it runs. The idea was from an Acroloc service guy and others have done the same thing with good results. My machine now has much less heat on the spindle since the air oil mixture is cooling the roller bearings. The conversion was fairly simple with an air/oil regulator hooked up to the old auto oiler port on the spindle. It might be possible to rig up a similar system with your machine.

Now with respect to 2 flute vs. 3 flute. I am really liking my 3 flute end mills but it is more complex then just feed per tooth. You need to look at the cut angle of tool engagement, and other factors. For a profile cut that is light you can really feed very fast. For a slot or plunge you need to slow down a lot since the tool is surrounded by metal.