Flute count follows the material
Aluminium wants one or two flutes so the chip can get out. Hardwood and plastic tolerate more. A four-flute cutter in aluminium on a light machine is the most common way to break a tool on the first pass.
What we can help you buy on 1688
CNC cutters and end mills
The cutter is the cheapest part of the machine and the one that decides most of the result. It is also where a desktop machine most often fails: the wrong geometry in aluminium will weld chips to the flutes and break the tool in seconds.
This is geometry and coating by material, without the marketing.
Request a quote for cnc cutters and end mills
What we check before you pay
Coating helps in some materials and hurts in others
TiAlN and AlTiN suit steel and stainless. In aluminium, uncoated polished flutes or ZrN are usually better, because the common coatings encourage the aluminium to stick.
Upcut, downcut and compression are about the edge
Upcut clears chips and lifts the top edge. Downcut leaves a clean top and packs chips into the slot. Compression does both and needs enough depth to work.
Shank diameter has to match your collet
Obvious and still the commonest ordering error: 3.175mm, 4mm, 6mm, 6.35mm and 8mm all exist in the same listing, and the photograph is the same for all of them.
Solid carbide versus coated HSS
For anything harder than softwood on a rigid machine, carbide is the only sensible answer. On a flexible machine, carbide also breaks more readily — which is a machine problem showing up as a tooling cost.
Batch consistency is worth testing before volume
Cutters are where unbranded supply varies most between batches. We buy a sample, measure it, and only then place the quantity.
How an order runs
- Material, machine and collet Those three pick the geometry and the shank before any listing is opened.
- Sample before quantity A small sample from each candidate supplier, measured for diameter, runout and edge quality.
- Feeds and speeds supplied A starting point for your machine and material, written down, rather than left to trial and error.
- Quantity priced across suppliers Cutters are cheap individually and not cheap in quantity; the spread between suppliers is wide.
- Quote and approval Itemised by type and quantity, with the sample cost shown separately.
- Consolidate and ship Small, dense and easy to consolidate with a machine or spares order.