Plain milling
Plain milling
Plain milling or slabbing (Figure) is a term applied to many operations such as face milling, milling a hex or square shape, or milling flat surfaces along the side of a workpiece. The process of plain milling normally involves removing large amounts of material with either a shell end mill or side milling cutters to form a flat surface. Work may be held either in the lathe chuck or between centers for plain milling.
Depth of Cuts
In the case of shell end mills, the depth of cut should not exceed the depth of the teeth or flutes. With side milling cutters, the depth of cut is controlled by the diameter of the cutter. For deep cuts, a staggered tooth, side milling cutter is recommended. Extremely light cuts should be avoided if possible as the cutter tends to slide over the work, heating and dulling the cutter which may result in putting undo pressure on the arbor and carriage causing excessive chatter.
Milling Feeds
The best milling performance is obtained when each tooth of the cutter takes a full chip. When milling steel, for example, the ideal feed is 0.005 inch. Depending on the width of the cutter and machinability of the material, it may be desirable to reduce the depth of cut and increase the rate of feed to maintain chip thickness. Chatter is likely to result whenchips are too thin, causing cutter life between grindings to be reduced.
[Back to Top]