DBDesign,

What Brady said is solid info, read it, then put an 1/8" bit in your tool and cut a piece of scrap. Just do some circles. Layout a bunch of them in the scrap you are using, make sure your hold down is good. As the circles cut hold down the "shift" key and press the ">" key to speed up your MS. I suggest you continue to ramp up the MS until you break the bit. You should then see how far you can push that bit in that situation (remember to always use the shortest cutting bit per job you can)

On the other hand you could chuck up a 1/2" cutter and start plowing things up and stall the machine, this will also teach you limits.

I have done all of the above tons of times accidentally. But as much as breaking stuff is aggrivating you learn what you did wrong each time.......( I just broke a $45 onsrud bit today because of operator error)

In the end you re gonna break bits, they are consumable.

Dave