Cutting and Milling Tools

Explanation & Selection for Great Machining Performance: Optimise Set-up, Improve Quality & Reduce Cycle Times

Cutting and Milling Tools

Selecting the best milling cutter for the job can be tricky. This page provides first class, easy to understand info about the broad range of cutters available, with explanations about typical applications and examples.

Specific information is provided to help you select the best cutter, together with a host of clear technical information. Examples include wear considerations, machining forces/loads, tool life and cutter materials. The slideshows provide a firm foundation in the subject.

A range of short videos illustrate a number of different milling cutters in action. See how different cutters produce a range of profiles and forms, together with the appropriate speeds and feeds. Use the information here to educate colleagues and inform your milling cutter choices, for great machining performance.

A good explanation of the different milling cutter classifications. Further descriptions are provided of each cutter type, their characteristics and uses. Additional information outlines the advantages and disadvantages of milling cutters, together with how they actually work and what the key features of the cutter are called.

---

A detailed explanation of various aspects of milling. The slide show features a description of the milling process including how the tools remove material, together with types of milling machine. Milling cutter types and materials are examined in detail. Milling applications are described and the forces involved in the process are analysed too.

---

Milling machine tutorial - cutter selection, speeds and feeds & coolant (Courtesy of Applied Science):  Discussing the basics of selecting the right cutter for the job, choosing feeds and speeds, and general setup and planning of CNC milling machine cuts.

---

Crash Course in Milling: Choosing & Using Endmills, by Glacern Machine Tools: Tips for selecting 90 degree end mills. Reviewing the range available together with their uses which include profiling, slotting, pocketing and boring operations. Examples include roughing and standard end mills in various materials, together with their typical uses.

---

Milling cutter pitches (Sandvik Coromant)  Selecting the correct cutter pitch in (face) milling is important because it has a dramatic effect on productivity, stability, and power consumption. Here you'll see the key considerations that will enable you to make the optimum choice.

---

VRV Cutting Tools ball nose end mill: VRV Cutting Tools 4 flute, regular length ball end mill.
Variable sine wave design. For Titanium and High Tensile Alloys. Higher speeds & metal removal rates, deeper cuts. Improved surface finish.

---

Evo-Tec Max Face Mill 14mm Insert, Cast Iron (Ingersol Cutting Tools): Cutter: SJ2J-06R01
Material: Cast Iron, RPM: 382, SFM: 600, DOC: .500", WOC: 4.00", IPT/IPM: .008" / 30.5. This short video demonstrates how effortlessly this face mill removes an abrasive material like cast iron.

---

Milling a 60 deg. 7mm high dovetail on carbon steel. A hard steel that can be oil hardened. When dovetail milling, instead of the usual needle swarf, the swarf is granular, like cast iron.

The cut was set to 0.2 mm per pass until half the depth was reached, then successive cuts were 0.1 mm, all done with conventional milling. The final cut (0.04mm) was made with climb milling in order to give the smoothest finish.

The coolant is a modified oil seed rape oil, that can also be used as mist coolant, being non-hazardous. Video by M Parker Lisberg

---

Ingersol Cutting Tool: 18T-8725T8RN01 -- Chip Surfer T-Slotter -- .875 dia - 6 teeth
4140 Steel. 1500 RPM -- 12 IPM. A clear view of a T-slot being expertly milled as the workpiece moves through an arc.

Cutting and Milling Tools

---

Back to Machine Shop Essentials

---