Rik, i have just made the transition into solid carbide tooling – had a quick look at your machine spec and it says 1 hp 16 mm capacity. You should find a 16 mm ripper works wonders, I did and I am a confirmed HSS cutter mutilator! I would swear HSS simply goes blunt the second I get hold of it (seems to happen even before I put it in the machine???).

I have been using the 20 mm ripper out of a set from Cromwell and have produced a bucket full of swarf without it showing any visible sign of use. I also use the tipped "shell" cutters now and these are also very effective – I have a 20 mm and 40 mm cutter and the 40 mm will plough a slot 3 mm deep at near full tilt (2500 rpm) . The only thing that happens is the motor gets annoyed and starts to slow down if I get too much feed on. The tips are the ubiquitous APKT1003 inserts and fair very well under abuse.

My machines are a little larger than the Warco – Elliot Omnimil's – but you should be fine flat out at 16 mm.

Mark