CNC Tooling

[DonRotolo]

I'm fairly accomplished with manual mills and lathes, but I am almost done building a 27" x 50" CNC router, and I'd like some advice on tooling and cooling. The driver here is a Hitachi 2.5 HP variable-speed router, with a range of about 8000 to 24000 RPM and 1/4 and 1/2" collets.

I see many choices of straight bits for cutting aluminum. Any suggestions on what to look for / at, brands that seem to work well, etc.?

In my manual milling and turning world, coolant use is rare. Just don't need it for most materials. But in the CNC router world, I fear that coolant is almost always used. Anyone have time to help me drink from that firehose? Not just coolants themselves, but ways of applying it, collecting, filtering out the chaff, etc. I don't even know what I don't know yet...