About tapered ball-end milling cutters?

graham-xrf

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Only because my experience with milling cutters is minimal, I gotta ask about these. The ones in the picture are apparently tungsten carbide, and coated with something, and they have the taper. They tend to be small, and aimed at the high speed spindle guys into CNC routing. I get it that having a radius in internal edges can greatly reduce the stress-raisers that start cracking, but I am not sure about the taper. Maybe for making a mold? So one can shake the cookie out? Dunno :)

Taper_Ball_End_Cutters.png
 
Very pretty - but at what stage do the cutting edges up the flutes ever get used?

They get used a fair bit on wood CNC routers. But you can take full length cuts in some wood even with somewhat less than rigid setups by our standards. Even then though, they are mostly used for finishing passes for complex carves. Normally, you would use a larger straight mill, I use 1/4" a LOT, and just leave 0.100" or so of material. Then run something like that to finish the complex areas. I have never had a desire to run one on metal, but they do work on it and could make some very fine features. If you need to get right up in the corner without a taper on the side, they are not the right tool. Unless you have a 5-axis? :)
 
Tapered endmills are used a lot in mold making. Parts with tapered sides release from the mold much more easily than straight vertical sides.
 
Tapered endmills are used a lot in mold making. Parts with tapered sides release from the mold much more easily than straight vertical sides.
I was thinking the same, though that angle seems somewhat generous for that purpose. I guess the more angle, the easier things get.
Those are about 4 degrees axis-to-slope, or 8 degrees included angle.
 
I have read descriptions of tapered end mills being used to make single-tooth gear cutters. The taper naturally produces positive relief. For example, see here. The author indicates that "cone drills" are cheaper than tapered end mills, but they also seem to be less common.

Making gears with this type of cutter would definitely be an exercise in patience. Or a job for a CNC machine.
 
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