Selection and use of milling cutter cutter heads on milling machines

On a milling machine, a milling cutter is a rotating tool with one or more cutting teeth used for milling operations.

A milling cutter on a milling machine is a rotating cutting tool with one or more teeth used for milling. During operation, each tooth intermittently cuts away the workpiece allowance. Milling cutters are mainly used on milling machines to process planes, steps, grooves, shaped surfaces, and cut workpieces. When selecting a milling cutter, the following issues should be considered for both the cutter body and the cutter holder:

Selection of milling cutter blades on a milling machine

1. For fine milling, it is best to choose ground blades. These blades have better dimensional accuracy, so the blade has higher positioning accuracy during milling, resulting in better machining accuracy and surface roughness. In addition, the development trend of ground milling blades used in fine machining is to grind out chip grooves to form large positive rake cutting edges, allowing the blade to cut at small feed and small depth of cut. However, cemented carbide blades without sharp rake angles will experience friction with the workpiece when using small feed and small depth of cut, resulting in short tool life.

2. In some processing situations, it is more appropriate to choose pressed blades; sometimes, ground blades are also needed. Pressed blades are best for rough machining, reducing processing costs. The dimensional accuracy and sharpness of pressed blades are inferior to ground blades, but pressed blades have better edge strength, are impact-resistant during rough machining, and can withstand larger depths of cut and feed rates. Pressed blades sometimes have chip grooves on the front cutting face, which can reduce cutting force and friction with the workpiece and chips, lowering power requirements.

3. However, the surface of pressed blades is not as dense as ground blades, and the dimensional accuracy is poor, with a large difference in the height of each tip on the milling cutter body. Due to their low cost, pressed blades are widely used in production.

4. Ground blades with a large rake angle can be used to mill sticky materials (such as stainless steel). The shearing action of the sharp blade reduces friction between the blade and the workpiece material, and the chips can leave the front of the blade more quickly.

5. As another combination, pressed blades can be mounted in the blade holders of most milling cutters, and a ground finishing blade can be added. The finishing blade removes rough machining marks, resulting in a better surface finish than using only pressed blades. Using a finishing blade also reduces cycle time and cost. Finishing technology is an advanced process and has been widely used in turning, slotting, cutting off, and drilling.