Milling Cutters

A milling cutter is a cutting tool used on a milling or other machines. Milling cutters are available in many standard or special types that include end mills, face mills, shell mills. n standard mill cutters the teeth maybe straight (parallel to the axis of rotation) or at a helix angle. The helix angle helps a slow engagement of the tool distributing the forces .The cutter may be right-hand (to turn clockwise) or left-hand (to turn counterclockwise).

The properties of a milling cutter like number of cutting flutes or inserts, rake and relief angles of the cutting edge(s), material of construction, specialized coatings to improve lubrication and life, and the rotational speed and feed rate of the cutter can be customized and optimized as per the requirement.

Types of Milling Cutters

End mills are vertical milling cutters and have two or more helical flutes. They are meant to cut with their ends and on their sides.

Face mills are used to cut with the ends of the cutter rather than their sides. they create a face or flat surface on the work piece. they usually have a larger diameter than the width of the work piece and the whole surface is processed in one pass.

Shell mills are a larger sized face or end mill that mount onto an arbor, and not on an integral shank. There is a hollow or recess in the center of the shell mill for mounting. Slab mills use the peripheral edges for cutting, usually with helical cutting edges mounted horizontally to produce a plane finish.

Plunge mills are meant for plunging the cutter directly into the material. Single angle cutters are angled on one side to produce an angle on the product edge.

Dovetail milling cutters are specialized tools for cutting a dovetail groove into a product for fitting or joining parts.

T-slot cutters have side cutting edges to produce a "T" slot. Corner rounding cutters produce a smooth radius on product edges.

Concave formed cutters produce a convex feature on the product, most typically a male semicircle and Convex formed cutters produce a concave feature on the product, most typically a female semicircle.

Gear hob milling cutters are used to cut tooth form on gears.

Button or copy cutters use circular or "button" inserts rather than square or triangular. This allows for enhanced feed rates and depth of cuts at lower power.

Helical form cutters are side-cutting mills with customizable profiles.

Material used for milling cutters

Coating material for milling cutters

Milling cutters can be configured as either a solid construction or a holder and inserts construction. Tip or end geometry can be square end, ball nose, radius tip, or chamfer end. If applicable milling cutters can be finishing type. These include roughing, hogging, or finishing.