Hi, all. I've been lurking here for a couple of years trying to come up with a good excuse to add a CNC router to my toolkit. I've done woodworking most of my life, a little metal work and am comfortable with 3D modeling for my 3D printer. When it comes to CNC, though, I'm a complete n00b.
I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a PRO4848 kit, plug and play NEMA34 electronics, the proximity limit switches, etc. I'm going with a DeWalt DW618 router for the moment. While shopping online for the router I ended up on an Amazon page and noticed a bunch of cutting tools in the "People who bought this also bought..." section. They are drastically cheaper than the ones at sites I've seen referenced here (Tools Today springs to mind), and the reviews on Amazon are great for some of them. One example from Amazon is the "Yonico 34221-SC CNC Router Bit Ball Nose Solid Carbide with 1/4-Inch X 1-Inch X 1/4-Inch X 2-1/2-Inch 1/4-Inch Shank" for $14.95. There are others in multi-packs that are cheaper still.
My question to the group is this: What is the difference in the cutting tools on Amazon vs the tools costing twice (or more) as much from other sites for the seemingly the same specs? And, assuming there is a quality difference in the end, would these cheaper bits be useful as expendables during the learning curve with my new machine?
Thanks in advance for any info provided, and for all the past info I've silently soaked up from the forums so far.
Greg