Cutter Types (Mill)

End Mill Types:
There are basically two different types of end mills; Finishing End Mills, or Roughing End Mills. Each of these options is offered with two flute, or multiple flute, different lengths, as well as materials. A normal rule for which to use is that the harder the material, the better it is to use a multiple flute cutter. For Materials like aluminum, a two flute works just fine.



Facing Types:
There are two types of facing tools, the Fly Cutter, and the Carbide Face Mill.

This is a Fly Cutter; Works well to take of material in one pass on a larger surface, but does not do as smooth of a job, and can be hard on the machine when working with hard metals.

This is a Carbide Face Mill; it does not make as large of cuts as most fly cutters, but leaves a very nice finish, and is faster to cut with.

Cutter Material Identification / Selection:
High Speed Steel (HSS) tooling is Shiny in color, and relatively light in weight. Carbide tooling is dull in color and relatively heavy compared to high speed steel. HSS is used for general purpose milling of both ferrous and non-ferrous materials. Carbide provides the user with the ability to run faster with less tool wear