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- Jan 31, 2016
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As a side note , I've been running a Chinese 1/2" 4 flute all week on 1018 . No oil , flood coolant or mist . Still going , not strong , but still going ! 
I'm not really pushing it to the limits , just filling in my time between calls . It's a shop supplied tool ....................that's how I KNOW it's from China . ( they wouldn't know what a good end mill was )
My guess would be the cheaper mills would work fine on softer stuff and on non-production applications . For tougher machining materials , I wouldn't waste my time or money on them .
I'm not really pushing it to the limits , just filling in my time between calls . It's a shop supplied tool ....................that's how I KNOW it's from China . ( they wouldn't know what a good end mill was ) My guess would be the cheaper mills would work fine on softer stuff and on non-production applications . For tougher machining materials , I wouldn't waste my time or money on them .