Very basic milling question about depth of cut | The Hobby ...
The max depth you should use in a slot cut is the diameter of the end mill, so for a 1/4" OD end mill, you can cut 1/4" deep at a time. If you need to go deeper then make multiple passes. The max axial depth of cut, meaning the max amount of the end mill that is touching the work when doing profiling cuts, is 1-1/2 the diameter of the end mill.