Quote Originally Posted by ericks View Post
Mine eats through aluminium and i have also milled steel plates a couple of times no issue.
I actually find that hard to believe. On a 16mm, 3 flute cutter at 100% tooth load, what speed and depth do you run? A good mill isn't 4ton and 10HP (plus) for no reason. Also for micron surface finish, you really need to be running coolant and at a high rate.

It's amazing how weight is so important. Something I discovered when I bought a Turner 360 with a solid cast iron base. The difference in stability of cut and surface finish regardless of cut depth is amazing.

Machining is a rabbit hole and like dharmac said when you use the pro stuff, you start to understand how bad the hobby stuff is. Then you spend all your time trying to make hobby stuff good...