Soon to be “New User” here (my equipment has yet to arrive). Is anyone able to share with me if the only place to purchase End Mills for my XXL is from the Carbide 3D website? I am sure I will be purchasing the starter kit. I am asking for future End Mill purchases and the possibility of more End Mill choices.

Also considering the depth of material you’ll be cutting so you can make sure your depth of cut is appropriate. I do a lot of stuff that 1" thick or more so most of my bits have 1" cutting depth.

The starter kits are usually a waste of money. The kits will have some bits that you will use but others you may never use. The price per bit for the kit is cheaper than buying individual bits but it is false economy if you never use some of the bits.

#501 and #502 engraving bits are useful for engraving small lettering but a 15/20 degree are more precise if you use the advanced vcarve tool paths.

I have some C3D bits, a ton of Amana, and i just picked up some Whitesite and Harvey ones to try as i haven’t been happy with the cut quality and noise on the amana spektra ones even after tweaking settings.

You will generally do profile cuts or clear material with 1/4 bits and then switch to a smaller one to finish or do more detailed work.

If buying the 15/20 degree vee bits make sure they have a sharp point and not a rounded edge at the bottom of the cutting surfaces.

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If you are going to cut metal then single O flute bits are the preferred bits. Also useful for cutting acrylics and other plastics.

Depending on the scale, for the work you describe you should be well-served by Carbide 3D #301 and #302 V endmills, and a couple of #251 or #46202-K .25" 2 flute spiral down cut downcut tools for pocket clearing.

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I have a variety of endmills from all over. My main stays are dreanique 3fl from aliexspress. They are very widely used by the print nc crowd and for good reason. The only downside is they will take some time to get. For a long time I used carbide 3ds endmills and I do not notice a quality difference.

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Get a basic set and buy the others as needed. If you already have some existing router bits straight bits can be useful and will save you money and you can expand as you go.

One of the most important things when buying new endmills is making sure the company you’re buying from publishes all the specs for the bits. This is a must for adding them to your tool library. Lots of 3rd party vendors will provide this info that you can add to your tool library with a click of a bottom ease.

Naturally as someone who gets a paycheck from Carbide 3D I have to plug our endmills, as well as the Amana tooling which we sell — if they are suited to your projects.

As listed, the ‘endmill diameter’ is almost always the cutting width, which may not be the same as the shank width. For example, I have a set of 2mm endmills, but they all have a 1/8" shanks.

No, theres lots of different places to buy endmills. Depending on what you plan on cutting, you can usually do quite well with the cheap bits you find on amazon and the like. Metal is a differnt story but for wood and plastic, you generally dont need anythig too fancy. If i may make a suggestion, you might want to start with the cheaper bits while you’re stil in the early learning stages. The C3D bits are great but they are on the pricey side. I can tell you from experience its no fun breaking a $40 bit first time out due to either user or mechanical error

I second Will’s listing of Drillman on eBay. Wide selection, great prices, fast shipping. This is an especially important source for tiny diameter mills which are my mainstay.

You can buy from lots of places, the most important thing to be sure of is the shank diameter. You want 1/4" (not 6mm), and if you bought the smaller collet, 1/8" (not 3mm).

#102 1/8" up cut from C3D 1.8" down cut bit I got from grizzly #251 1/4" down cut bit from C3d 60 degree Downcut Groovee Jenny 15 degree vee bit from Amazon 20 degree vee bit from Amazon #112 1/16" upcut bit from C3D 1/4" upcut endmill from Whiteside 1" 6210 Fly Bit from Whiteside

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What sort of work do you wish to do? 95% Woodworking. How do you wish to approach it? Using mostly Vee End Mills to outline the designs and then an end mill to cut out the work. Cutting what materials? 60% premium plywood, and 40% wood (hard and soft).

Lots of good advice here. I would second or third not buying any combo kits. If I started out again I would buy a couple of extra #201 1/4" endmills (you get two bits for like $45 from C3D, plus the one that comes with the machine), a #102 1/8" endmill, and a 90 degree v-bit. That’s it until I needed a specific but for a new project I was working on.

A couple of the Cadence Manufacturing bits I recent got had the F&S printed on the label on the bit container. I liked that.

The #301 90 degree and #302 60 degree bits are seldom used by me. The Groovee Jenny bit has replaced the C3D vee groove bits for me. I still have them but seldom use them.

I try to use down cut bits when ever possible. They leave a better surface finish on wood. However if doing deep grooves an upcut is better because the down cut packs the saw dust/chips down in to the deep grooves.

My pieces will be approximately 3/4" - 1" in depth also. I can’t remember if the Starter kit I ordered will have them that long.