Are you curious to know about the types of milling cutters? Well, this article will give you information about all the milling cutters. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get started.
Let us start first by knowing what is milling? Milling is a cutting process where we use a cutter to remove the material from the surface of a metal or workpiece. This cutter which we use has multiple rotating cutting surfaces. Milling cutters play an important role in the milling process and they are used in several milling machines. Milling cutters are of many sizes and shapes.
Following are the types of milling cutters that we use in different milling machines:
Roughing end mill
Slab mill
End mill cutter
Hollow mill
Ball mill cutter
Involute gear cutter
Face mill cutter
Wood ruff cutter
Thread mill cutter
Fly cutter
Slide and face cutter
Hobbing cutter
Dovetail cutter
To know more about each cutter in details keep reading…………..
This type of cutter is used when you have to remove more amount of material from the workpiece. By using roughing end mills, we obtain a rough surface finishing. Roughing end mills are also famous as “rippa” cutters. They are more beneficial commercially and are used in various industrial applications.
2. Slab Mill
Basically, slab mills are used for machining surfaces which are large as well as broad in shape. Slab mills are made from high speed steel. Slab mills are mostly used in a gang milling processes.
3. End mill
These types of milling cutters have the cutting teeth on both sides. We use end mill more in the vertical milling processes. High-speed steel or the cemented carbide are used to create end mills. High speed steel is also called as HS or HSS. The high speed steel doesn’t loose its hardness when the temperature increases. Hence, due to better hardness the high speed steel is used to make end mills. The end mills are mostly used in plunging, tracer milling, face milling, etc. Torus cutters, etc. are the different cutters which are involved in the term end mill.
4. Hollow Mill
They are also referred to as hollow milling cutters. They look like a pipe having thicker walls. You will find the cutting teeth of the hollow mills on the inside surfaces. Hollow milling cutters are used in the screw machines.
5. Ball Mill Cutter
Ball cutters are also famous as ball nosed cutters. You can be easily identified as ball cutters as their end is hemispherical in shape. Ball cutters are used to decrease the stress concentration and are also known as ball end mills. Whenever there is a need of cutting three-dimensional shapes then, there is a use of ball cutters to perfectly cut those three-dimensional shapes.
6. Involute Gear Cutter
It is made up of many cutters and has a pressure angle of 14.5º. It has a large number of teeth. Some of the teeth may be of half size and hence they are not counted as cutters.
It consists of cutting teeth present on its sides. It consists of cemented carbide and always cuts horizontally. It is also referred to as an indexable carbide insert. It has a body that can be replaced by the carbide tips. These carbide inserts are gold in color. These tips can be exchanged and thus whenever one of the tips get damaged you can replace it with a newer one.
This cutter is widely used in the applications related to the Woodruff keys.
9. Thread Mill
The thread milling cutter is another type of milling cutters mostly used in various industries. It operates the same as that of the end mill. It removes the material from the workpiece by moving helically on the metal surface. It is easily identified due to the helical motion that it possesses. These are very high in price.
10. Fly Cutter
The best thing about fly cutters is that they are very cheaper in price. In the fly cutter, there are some non-rotating cutters are present. Fly cutters with two non-rotating cutters are called as double fly cutters or fly bars. The fly bars are highly efficient and make the cutting process easier.
11. Slide and Face Cutter
These types of milling cutter are earliest one and they were discovered in 1800. They were the most prominent milling cutters in between 1810 to 1880. This type of cutter is available in various sizes and shapes. You will find cutting teeth on its peripheral area and on its sides. Side and face cutter makes the cutting on one side an easy and efficient process.
These are the special kind of cutters which are used to create different types of gears. As the name suggests, they are mostly applied in hobbing machines.
13. Dovetail Cutter
It is one of the end mills. It has a unique name as it creates a dovetail shape while cutting.
In this article, you get a brief review of different types of milling cutters. Choosing a milling cutter is not that easy deal. For selecting milling cutter, you have to think of their diameter, the material from which they are made, etc. I hope you like this information. If you get worthy knowledge out of it then, don’t hesitate to share this valuable knowledge with your friends and thus, help them.
