Is it worth buying carbide for aluminum when i mainly work with steel, I was just gonna buy a cheap hss set for aluminium use
I don't agree with others who don't like HSS. But I don't buy cheap HSS.
I actually prefer HSS to carbide for most of my work.
I find HSS to be less demanding of me as a hobbiest. My take is that the guys who do a crap load of machining (usually doing it for a living) prefer carbide. But they do enough work to learn its intricacies and can push carbide to do what hss can't or won't do.
Low volume hobbiests like me are more likely to be miles away from pushing their machines and their tooling to any limits. As a pure hobbiest, I really don't care much about productivity or tool life. I'd rather make a nice part first crack than spend time optimizing the process.
Don't get me wrong, I do have a lot of carbide, but there is a very warm loving spot in my tool drawers for HSS. Not just for aluminium but for most kinds of steel too!
I see nothing wrong with your plan to get some low cost HSS end mills too.
Especially after you break a few carbide ones - as you WILL do! (
@phaxtris is dead on - buy several of the smaller ones cuz you WILL break them - ESPECIALLY since you will be experimenting). Just so you know, I have probably broken 4 carbide end mills for every 1 HSS one. And before any of the peanut gallery pipes up..... OF COURSE I'm not doing it right! I'm a pure hobbiest. I don't run my machines all day every day. In fact, I'm lucky to make just one part a week or so.