A milling cutter is a rotary cutting tool used in milling machines or machining centers to perform various milling operations. Milling is a machining process that involves removing material from a workpiece using a rotary cutter with multiple cutting edges. Milling cutters are essential tools for shaping, contouring, and creating features on a wide range of materials, including metals, plastics, and wood.

Here are some key aspects of milling cutters:

Types of Milling Cutters

End Mill: These cutters have cutting edges on the bottom and the sides and are primarily used for milling operations such as face milling and slot cutting. They come in various designs, including square end mills, ball end mills, and corner radius end mills.

Face Mill: Face mills have a large cutting diameter and are used for facing or machining large flat surfaces on a workpiece.

Shell Mill: Similar to face mills, shell mills are used for facing, but they use indexable inserts for the cutting edges.

Slot Cutter: Slot cutters are designed for creating slots in workpieces.

T-slot Cutter: These cutters are used for creating T-slots in machine tables.

Keyseat Cutter: Keyseat cutters are used for cutting keyways in shafts.

Ball Cutter: Ball cutters have a spherical cutting end and are used for 3D profiling and contouring.

Thread Mill: These cutters are designed for thread milling operations, which is the process of producing threads in a workpiece.

Materials and Coatings

Milling cutters are often made from high-speed steel (HSS), carbide, or other specialized materials. They can also be coated with various coatings to improve their performance and longevity, such as TiN (titanium nitride), TiCN (titanium carbonitride), or TiAlN (titanium aluminum nitride).

Applications

Milling cutters are used in a wide range of applications, including:

Profiling and contouring

Slot cutting

Face milling

Plunge milling

Thread milling

Keyway cutting

High-speed machining

3D machining

Precision machining

The choice of milling cutter depends on the specific machining operation, the material being machined, and the desired finish and accuracy. Proper selection and usage of milling cutters are critical for achieving high-quality and efficient milling operations.