profiling to 1 inch depth with end-mill with 9/16 flute depth. Milling 101?

j ferguson

Active User
Registered
Joined
Nov 28, 2013
Messages
196
I acknowledge that this will be a stupid question.

I have a number of cutters whose flutes are 9/16 but shanks are long enough to cut down to the inch I want. My thought was that if I used a Climb cut, the tool would lift slightly and the shank would not rub on the part of the profile already cut. I would be descending down the surface in .020 cuts (Sherline 2000). I have a mister and assume if I crank it up a bit I may be able to keep chips from getting between the shank and the milled surface, and of course the last pass can be a couple of thousandths.

Other than having my finish a little rough where chips get under the shank,what else should I consider? Or is this nuts?
 
Yes you can cut deeper than the flutes as long as the chips have somewhere to go
Mark
ps not a stupid question at all, there really aren't any here-
 
Last edited:
You could grind a relief on the tool shank above the flutes to give your a hair of clearance. Just a little skim cut. Chuck the end mill in a cordless drill and sneak the shank up against a bench grinder so you get a fairly even grind. Don't worry if there are grind 'lines' - just as long as it's still round. Practice on a dull drill first.

I've found that the shank sometimes leaves rub marks if I'm cutting deeper than the flutes - not a big problem unless I'm after a uniform surface finish.
 
Back
Top