I’ve been experimenting on doing inlays. Not the V-carve style but with thin veneers. I’ve used a 1/8" endmill but I would like to get finer detail in the “corners”. I’ve avoided trying a 1/16" end mill because, at least the Amana one, is 50% more than an 1/8" and I would expect that they would be easy to break. So I was wondering how fragile they are from someone who uses them?
I’ve got some cheap chinesium ones that have performed well. I do 50% dia DOC max and run at the appropriate feeds and speeds to have correct chip load.
I use a 1.5mm and so far it has worked ok. Of course the depth of cut and feed rate will be the man factor. the density of the wood also plays a major roll.
I’ve used them a lot for wood inlays, and 1/32" as well. Pic below is from my original Shapeoko 2.
I get them from eBay since they are 1/10th the cost of others.
1/16 - (5) 1/16" (.0625") CARBIDE END MILL 2 FLUTE KYOCERA 1600.0625.250 | eBay
1/32 - 1/32" (.0312") CARBIDE END MILL 2 FLUTE KYOCERA 1600.0312.120 (5 PACK) | eBay
Hope this helps.
-Tom
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