Milling

Unlike lathes, which have been around for thousands of years, milling machines are less than 200 years old. Because they require much more power than hand-driven lathes, the introduction of milling machines had to wait for the invention of industrial water and steam power.

Applying “off-the-shelf,” standard milling tools to get the job done provides several benefits: the tools are readily available and usually from numerous suppliers, their prices are competitive and the results are predictable. Nonetheless, even with a multitude of standard tools available for nearly every milling application, parts manufacturers often require specials engineered for a specific application.

February 2009 Shop Operations column

Case histories and comments about hard milling in die and mold shops.

Keys to maximizing productivity when facemilling steel.

A demonstration application shows that trochoidal milling can cut narrow, wavy slots in hardened steel at up to 12 times the normal rates.

Improving medium-grade PCD for high-speed milling, including interrupted milling of high-silicon aluminum.

Machining techniques for hard milling with ceramic tools.

Milling and grinding with a single-layer, metal-bond diamond wheel.

Die and mold shop carves a niche by focusing on contour and hard milling.