Still Confused with Conventional and Climb Milling

[P. Waller]

I think one of the confusing issues is what is the direction of feed. The Harvey paper shows the direction of feed as the direction the cutter is moving relative to the work. When we feed with a mill, the cutter is stationary and we feed the work into it. The two are opposites. It doesn't help that in some of the illustrations, it isn't clear which is being referred to.

The direction of cut is the direction that the tool moves relative to the work, this does not change if the tool moves or the work moves.
Let me explain this again. If someone finds this terribly difficult to understand then they will probably never get the principle.

 

[P. Waller]

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the terms conventional milling and climb milling only apply to side milling and that slotting is neither conventional nor climb. It’s slotting. And that's what I'm going to call it.

Now that that’s settled for all time. What is plunge milling, conventional or climb?

Tom

A side milling cutter can either climb or conventional cut depending on the feed direction, you may also plunge a side mill.
https://www.travers.com/side-milling-cutters/c/297777/
https://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tn...archterm=side+milling+cutter&navid=4287922886

 

[mikey]

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the terms conventional milling and climb milling only apply to side milling and that slotting is neither conventional nor climb. It’s slotting. And that's what I'm going to call it.

Now that that’s settled for all time. What is plunge milling, conventional or climb?

Tom

It's neither; it's plunging.

 

[higgite]

It's neither; it's plunging.

Aw, Mike, now you done gone and spoiled it. I figured that had to be worth 3 more pages.

Tom

 

[WarrenP]

I'm with Tom and @P. Waller here. It makes no difference what you call it. When cutting a slot with the end mill fully engaged, the end mill is cutting in both conventional and climb modes at the same time and it cannot do anything else.

Most of us rarely do a full width cut unless we just need a slot. If it has to be an accurate slot with decent finishes then we will use an undersized end mill to rough it and come back with a finishing end mill to climb or conventional cut the sides and ends.

+1 with Mikey, I have to agree it has to be both. Once the cutter gets to 180 degrees, or the other side it is cutting oppposite of the first 180 degrees, which means it is cutting both conventional and climb depending on which side is doing the cutting. The other side has to be cut too and then the cutter is turning opposite of the first side.

 

[BaronJ]

Hi Guys,

You can only plunge a center cutting slot drill or end mill.

 

[mikey]

Actually, if you drill a hole first you can plunge with a non-center cutting end mill.

 

[T Bredehoft]

I think we're obsessing about something that needs to be experienced. Slotting is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. Generally there is enough load on the end mill to pull it sideways as it cuts, so we generally use a smaller mill cutter and rough it in one pass and finish by Climb milling both sides. one at a time.

Lets all step back, take a deep breath, put some stokc in the mill and make some chips, paying strict attention to what we and the cutter are doing.

Then lets come back here and admit that we now know what we're doing.

 

[PFC Lug Nut]

Looking at these photos, no wonder people are confused about climb mIlling vs conventional milling.

 

[PFC Lug Nut]

I think the terminology is confusing for many. Intuitively, looking at the two methods, it would seem that in conventional milling, to tool is climbing uphill into the cut. And in ‘climb milling’ or down milling, the tool is going down downhill into the cut . So, climbing down, or climbing up.
Climb milling is climbing down, and that is confusing unless you associate climb milling with down milling.