What is the life expectancy of the endmills used for cnc router?
That is going to depend.
- Quality of the end mill
- What your working with - Example cutting acrylics, metal or woods soft or hard woods
- How aggressive your cutting
Okay, I’ll be using an 1/8 inch uncut on let’s say some pine. I ordered the started endmill set and am wondering the average life expectancy.
Upcut. Really I am wondering about the bits in the kit
As Mike says it depends on the wood and the aggressiveness of your cut.
I have been through 3 1/8th mills in a morning on walnut.
I have been using the same mill now for about 6 weeks doing mainly cherry. I have started using lower feed rates and depths of cut per pass
Pine is a really soft wood, so you should be able to get a lot of mileage per bit
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@KnockOnWood Welcome to the group. As you have already seen, you will find it an excellent source of help and advice.
On this particular subject, I would add that there is no right or wrong answer. You mention pine. Pine is soft, but can be very pitchy. Pitch sticks to bits and dulls them. Other factors include all your tool path settings. Feed rate, router speed, step down, step over, climb cut or “normal”. All of these enter into bit lifespan. Clearly the quality of the bit matters, too.
One thing that is sometimes forgotten is that slow does not necessarily mean less wear. Moving to slow in the wood or spinning the bit too slowly or too quickly can heat up the bit, causing premature dulling. Sienci offers a very good chip load chart. They have tested it with their bits and their machines. They are an excellent place to start. Good chips take away heat. Heat is the enemy of longevity.
In the end, you will use a bit until you see that it is no longer performing up to your standards, then you will switch it out. You can get a bit more life out of bits, particularly when cutting pitchy wood, by cleaning them after a job
I hope that I have not confused the issue. I’ll climb off my soapbox now.
Have fun
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How many bits did you go through making the soapbox, and what type of wood was it ? 
