Micro End Mills 0.2mm - 0.5mm Feed & Speed

Your bit needs sound just ike mine although most of my work so far is in wood and pearl. My one cut in silver suggests soft metals will be easier. More homogenous than the wood, less brittle than the pearl. I generally rough-out with a 0.794 mm then finish with the smaller bits. I had a lot of bit breakage but folks on the forum here helped. Some suggestions:

If you’re working in CC, forget the recommended speeds for micro bits. I generally run around 9000 RPM in both wood and pearl, I used that for my one foray into silver as well. The other big news for me, thanks to @mikep, is that small bits can undergo enough deflection to cause breakage. (He derived that from "g-wizard.) So, along with the higher speed, I reduced the feed to 30 mm. Success! My bits are now more likely to be retired from use than break.

Admittedly, this makes for slow going. At some point, using this slow feed as a start, I may challenge this with some incremental testing upward. Also monitor, maybe reduce, your plunge rates. Watch carefully to see if the bits are primarily breaking on the plunge.

Another strategy I use is to minimize use of the small bits. Say I’m cutting a tree snag profile. Most of the contour can be done with the 0.7 mm bit with no loss of detail. For the crotches, where branches meet at acute angles, I will make a separate file that limits cutting with the smaller bit to only those areas using isolated pockets. I may even do this a second time for use with a 0.178 mm bit.

Here’s a post, although primarily rgarding wood, that may help:

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