I just came back from the shop and tried a few things. I reduced the width of the primary grind and I used some Rapid Tap fluid brushed onto the work. I also slowed the feed to about half of what I was doing before. I took one 0.050" pass over a new section. It was better but the finish was horrible and was very uneven. I could see and feel the undulations on the surface. So I took a 0.005" pass, very slowly, using more Rapid Tap and that cleaned up the surface pretty well but I could tell the bit was getting dull again. Just for the heck of it I tried another 0.025" pass but I could feel some bad vibrations starting and stopped the mill just as something moved.
Ted, the next thing I try will be to turn the rpm down plus use some cutting fluid.
Bob, not sure how long I have left on this side of the grass so I can't say if I have more time than money or not, lol. But being retired and the cheap SOB I am I prefer to sharpen the end mills as opposed to chucking them out, especially the way things are going for me with this project. I could never do this for money because I am waaaaaaaay too slow and inexperienced but if I were capable and wanted to earn money by machining I would certainly not be dicking around with cheap tooling and spending hours or days making jigs, collet blocks, lining tools, etc. I understand your point about time being money and when I was working, time was a very valuable commodity. This is a hobby for me and most of the time I really enjoy making something from scrap yard steel. It's a great learning experience but can be very frustrating at times. Glad I can get help from the members here or I would probably just go back to one of my other hobbies.