I appreciate your comments, Joe.

Not many of the 8052.COM participants will have opportunity to work with the LPKF machines, because, as you've said, they're very expensive.

I've resigned myself to not meddling in this particular person's efforts unless specifically asked, because, (A) he generally ignores unsolicited advice, (B) he often ignores solicited advice, and (C) he tends to blame the tools rather than examining his own practices. If he inquires, I'll pass your comments along, however. I suspect, though, that, with his limited experience with machine tools, he believes that cutting tools remain sharp as long as his scissors bought back in '70 or so have done. Tools rotating at 50-100k rpm and routing through PCB and copper don't last that long. I also disagree with his general practice of "faster is better" which doesn't apply equally to all things. I initially guessed his breakage was due to too high a feed rate for the material involved. Perhaps his penetration was too deep.

I had the sense that he was using small-diameter end-mills rather than V mills. I once had to operate with such small (10-mil) tools in a high-speed vertical milling machine. I can't imagine those lasting long. I certainly broke a few, and they're not cheap.

In any case, I'm not likely to have to deal with this, but one never knows!

RE