Mill – Tooling – Cutter and their Holders

I quickly learned just about every task or operation you do in the shop needs a different kind of tool; whether machine, fixture, or tooling.  Versatility is the key. 

Cutters are the tooling that actually touches the part to remove the material.  Cutters come in various shapes and sizes.  The Mill cutter shapes could be categorized by function, like plunging and surfacing, or like end-cut or side-cut.  End-cut tools are like drills or face-cutters. Side-cut tools are like gear-tooth-cutters or boring-bars.  Most do both, like end-mills, fly-cutters.  Some are made from a single piece of material, like an end-mill, and others are made from a body and replaceable cutters, like a face-cutter or boring-head.  Some cut squarely, other cut a rounded or beveled surface.  Some are quite specialized, and others are more general-use in nature.

Cutters are made from a number of materials, like High-Speed Steel (HSS), or Carbide.  You may chose one cutter material over another depending on the part material to be worked on.  Some have coatings that give the tool special properties.  Some have special notchings that help break off and remove chips.  There are countless variables in the specification of tooling that I couldn’t begin to explain here.  You can refer to manufacturer specs and white-papers for more authoritative treatment on the subject of selecting the correct tool for the job.  Personally, I’ve studied tons of material, and purchased a little variety, and by trial-and-error, resolved on some favorite tooling I just keep going back to.

First of all, I’ve determined that the added cost of carbide cutters more than makes up for the increased tool life – if there’s a choice, I always buy carbide cutters not HSS.  Secondly, I can’t afford everything in the catalog, so I tend to focus mostly on a few general tools, like twist-drills, end-mills; and just a few very cool specialty tools like boring-head, face-cutter, reversible tapping head.

I don’t presume to be an expert on much of anything, just a little experienced in a lot of things.  I’m also not going to inventory all of my tooling here because it’s constantly changing, and who cares anyway?!?!

When I’m planning out an operation I try to see if I can do it with what I’ve got, and if not, then I go shopping.  I hate the idea of buying something I’m only going to use once, but alas, I’ve got quite a collection of stuff I’ve only used once.

One thing I’ve decided – I’ve got ONE set of drawers for cutters, which I reserve for the tools I use over and over again; and all the one-use tooling goes into a too-good-to-throw-away-but-I’ll-probably-never-use-again bucket.

I’ve got tooling chucks and collets too.  I’ll use a collet for detail work, but most of the time I just use a chuck because its faster to change tools in.

I’ve seen set-ups that use fast-change tool-holders, but I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.  It just looks like another machine-upgrade project, and I’ve already got a back-log of those in the queue.

I find that whenever I am facing a new challenge, I always go to YouTube to see if anyone has posted a video on the subject.  I get LOTS of great ideas there.  Though, some of them don’t quite pan out, some of them are very helpful.  Like all research, you have to scrutinize everything you see or hear with a little healthy skepticism.