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Re: CNC Tooling
Endmills: Where I worked we used 3 flute carbide endmills from MA Ford. Probably the 116 series. I'm sure they aren't cheap, but they lasted a *long* time when run properly. We often used different tools for roughing and finishing, but they weren't roughing tools. They were just more worn down from so much cutting we didn't trust them for finishing. For my team, I've suggested they buy the 3 flute Aluminum specific endmills from maritool. We've made great use of roughing bits on the team, but somehow we usually got away with not using them at work.
Taps: Roll taps were the best. We didn't always use them, and I'm not sure why sometimes we used other taps, but we had various types of every size. The roll taps left stronger threads and they never jammed up and broke because of chips like the spiral flute taps do (because they don't make chips).
Reamers: You're never going to get a better hole than if you ream it. Always ream precision holes if you can. Even on a brand new VF3, we reamed high tolerance holes.
We chamfered, countersunk, and did spot drilling with 1 tool. We actually had 3 different tools, but they were just different sizes (1/4", 3/8", 1/2")
Shell mills: I mostly used 90 degree with rectangular inserts, but I've heard very good things about 45 degree with octagonal inserts. Mostly used a 3" tool, but the machines also had 2" tools.
Drills: If you can, I'd suggest you just get the 115 piece set, and individually buy a bunch of extra #43, #36, #29, #21, and #7 drills. That would cover you for #4-40, #6-32, #8-32, #10-32, and 1/4-20. The other drills don't get used all that much, so if your budget is restrictive a smaller set wouldn't really cause many problems.
Everything above is what we most commonly used, but our tool crib was full of specialty tools of every type, finish, and size (except the one you needed).
I'm sure Cory is going to show up with plenty more advice, and probably more applicable to FRC usage.
FWIW, my years on the team we used HSS Niagara cutter bits. We also struggled with speeds, feeds, and most importantly, a huge lack of decent coolant. We broke an insane number of cutting tools. The few carbide bits we had tended to shatter and the HSS bits would get hot, chips wouldn't clear out, they would weld on to the tool, and then it would snap off. We broke expensive tools (donations) too. So I'd just recommend taking it a little slow at the very beginning before you start throwing $30 endmills in there.
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