What are the different types of tools in CNC?

18 Apr.,2024

 

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For anyone working with CNC Milling, having the right CNC machine cutting tools is essential for producing quality parts. Whether you’re a hobbyist or professional, using the best tools for the job will ensure your parts are created to a high standard. CNC(Computer Numerical Control) machining is widely used in many industries for cutting and shaping materials into complex shapes.

The right type of CNC mill cutting tools must be used to achieve quality results to ensure accuracy and consistency. In this article, I will explore 10 types of CNC machine cutting tools you need to build quality parts and what materials they can be used on. So, let’s dive in!

Various CNC Machine Cutting Tools You Must Know

1. End Mills

In this article, we have included three different types of end mills. You can have any one of these according to your need.

Square End Mill

It is designed to provide superior cutting performance and accuracy in CNC milling applications.

  • You can easily use this square end mill to create pockets, slots, or grooves in the workpiece.
  • Its main features include an increased flute length and decreased helix angle which improve its cutting capability when compared to other types of mills.
  • This tool has a unique design that allows it to cut deeper into the workpiece than traditional end mills, making it suitable for more complex operations such as contouring or pocketing.
  • Its sharp corners also make it great for edge finishing and corner radius machining.

Bull Nose End Mill

The Bull Nose End Mill has a rounded edge, which allows it to generate smooth curves with minimal chatter or vibration. With its unique design, this type of cutting tool provides excellent performance and accuracy when machining small parts and complex contours.

Ball Nose End Mill

The ball nose end mill features a round tip that allows it to cut in any direction with greater accuracy than other cutting tools. It is ideal for creating complex shapes in soft or hard materials such as aluminum, brass, or stainless steel. The ball nose design helps reduce the risk of chatter due to its ability to self-center when making contact with the material being cut.

2. Gear Cutter

CNC milling cutters, such as gear cutters, are used to precisely shape metal with high precision and accuracy.

It features several different types of teeth that can be adjusted for different purposes, making this very versatile in terms of what it can do. Gear cutter produces smooth finishes on the material being worked on, which helps reduce unnecessary grinding or buffing later on in the production process.

3. Drill Bit

The CNC drill bit is typically made from quality hardened steel, allowing it to maintain its sharpness during heavy use. It features an optimized flute design that helps reduce heat build-up while drilling into various materials like wood or metal. Depending on the material being drilled, the drill bit can have multiple coatings such as TiAlN (titanium aluminum nitride) or TiCN (titanium carbonitride), which help extend its life even further.

4. Face Mill

Face mills cut away material from the workpiece surface, creating flat surfaces and curved edges on parts like dies, molds, and machined components.

The cutting-edge face mills are designed for high-speed operation with minimal chatter or vibration during operation. Different types of materials can be handled by different kinds of cutting tools, meaning that virtually any kind of machinable material can be machined using a face mill cutter.

5. Hollow Mill

This cutting tool is made from a variety of materials that allows it to withstand the high temperatures associated with its use in manufacturing processes. These materials include carbide, cobalt, and tungsten-based alloys that offer superior heat resistance, strength, and wear resistance properties. The sharpness of this hollow mill helps to ensure clean cuts and improved tool life compared to its types of cutters. Hollow mills cut faster than traditional end mills because it displaces more material per revolution due to shape. It also provides better chip evacuation which reduces tool clogging during machining operations.

6. Slab Mill

It is designed for a variety of applications including drilling, tapping, contouring, grooving, and creating complex shapes on all types of materials. With its superior cutting capabilities and extensive range of tooling solutions, it provides unparalleled versatility in the production process. This robust mill can handle large-scale projects with precision while ensuring that each cut meets the exact desired specifications.

7. Fly Cutter

The most important aspect of the fly cutter is its ability to cut complex shapes quickly and accurately. Its design features multiple cutting edges arranged around one central axis that rotate at high speeds to create the desired shape or profile in the material being machined.

8. Thread Mill

Thread mill offers several advantages over traditional single-point threading tools like taps or dies. Unlike these tools which require a separate entry and exit hole for each completed thread lengthwise down the workpiece; a thread mill can create multiple threads with only one entry point required per pass across the material’s surface.

9. Slitting Saw

Slitting saws are composed of a small circular saw blade mounted onto a spindle. The blade rotates at high speeds and two flanges support the blade when it cuts through the material. The blades come in several different diameters to accommodate all kinds of cutting. During the cutting process, the spindle moves up and down as well as side to side so that the blade can cut into different angles and depths within the material being machined.

10. Chamfer Mill

This type of mill is specially designed for producing angled edges most efficiently and accurately as possible, with minimal waste and effort. It helps reduce machining time and increase productivity by eliminating manual operations, making it an indispensable tool for any modern machine shop.

Chamfer Mills are available in different shapes like vertical and horizontal, as well as different sizes depending on the requirement. The milling cutter is made up of high-grade carbide material which offers superior strength and durability while creating precise chamfers on machined parts.

Useful Materials Used in CNC Mill Cutting Tools

# Ceramic

The unique properties of ceramic make it ideal for use in CNC milling cutters. It is highly wear-resistant and able to withstand extreme temperatures, making it a good choice for high-precision cuts on metals and other hard materials. Ceramics can be machined with a greater degree of accuracy than many other materials due to their uniform molecular structure.

# Carbide

CNC Machine Cutting Tool Carbide is a versatile and durable material used in the development of cutting tools for CNC machines. It is a composite material made up of tungsten carbide particles suspended in a cobalt or nickel binder, making it perfect for use as a precision cutting tool. The high hardness, wear resistance, and heat tolerance properties of tungsten carbide make it an ideal choice for intricate machining operations.

# Carbon Steel

Carbon steel can be heat treated to improve its hardness, making it suitable for a wide range of applications in the metalworking industry. It has excellent welding properties, so CNC machine cutters made from carbon steel can be easily repaired if they become damaged or worn down due to heavy use. Its low cost makes carbon steel a popular choice among manufacturers who need to keep costs down while ensuring that their products are safe and reliable.

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Conclusion

The 10 types of CNC machine cutting tools discussed in this article are essential for any CNC machinist to produce quality parts. Having the right CNC mill cutting tools enables the machinist to create customized, accurate parts that are suitable for a range of industries. Each of these tools has its own unique specifications and can perform various operations with precision. Therefore, it is important to know the differences between each tool and how to use them appropriately in order to achieve optimal results.

CNC machining is a revolutionary technology. With its a great many advantages, a range of diverse CNC cutting tools is one of them. These advanced and versatile machines offer different CNC machine tools for various operations, from milling to turning, drilling, or electrical discharge.

A cutting tool is an instrument used to cut, shape, and remove CNC Machining material from a workpiece. It employs a shear deformation process. CNC machining tools are fastened on the spindle of CNC machines. They rotate at a breakneck speed and are instructed by computer numerical programming.

CNC milling tools are amongst the most widely used CNC machining tools. These enable milling machines to execute a variety of cuts and incursions in a raw piece of material. But choosing the right tool is paramount to fabricating the parts as required by your customers.

The tool that will be selected for a particular job must be easily available, cheaper, easy to install, rigid, efficient, and highly precise. But the question arises, how can we come to know that our tool possesses all the attributes? Don’t worry! Just read the article. In the end, you will be able to select the best tools for your next CNC machining project.

First, we’ll explain the different types of CNC machining tools.

End Mills

End mills are the most frequently used tools for milling operations. They resemble drill bits because they can perform vertical CNC machining operations. There are disparate types of CNC end mill tools. Every category has its own number of flutes and type of nose. They typically consist of teeth on one end and on the sides as well. Below are given types of end mills:

  • Flat: Flat-faced end mills used for general-purpose applications are equipped with 2D features.
  • Ball Nose: Ball nose end mills are preferred for machining operations requiring 3D contours and curves.
  • Bull Nose: This category of end mills consist of flat end and rounded corner and is appropriate for roughing and fillets.

Face Mills

Face mills are used when we have to mill flat sections on the surface of the workpiece. Therefore, the term face is derived because we create flat faces. These tools consist of a flat head with replaceable cutter inserts or edges. These inserts or edges are made of carbide.

The cutter inserts are fixed on the sides of the face mills. Therefore, we can only mill flat sections horizontally. However, due to their interchangeable inserts, the tool’s life span increases, and they are also cost-efficient compared to other CNC machining tools.

Slab Mills

Slab mills (also called slab cutters or plain mills) are rarely found in advanced machining centers. They have no side teeth but have teeth on their periphery and are used for milling flat surfaces. They can also be employed for creating instant wide and narrow cuts.

Involute Gear Cutters

Gear cutters, also known as involute gear cutters, are used to create metal gears for different manufacturing applications. We can easily CNC machine gears using involute gear cutters.

Machinists sometimes require a particular milling machine for cutting gears, referred to as a hobbing machine. This unique milling machine performs gear cutting, cutting splines, and cutting sprockets operations.

Fly Cutters

Fly cutters are economical compared to face mills and are used to create broad and shallow cuts on blank material. They embody one or two tool bits attached to a solid body. The two-tool bit fly cutters are also referred to as fly bars. Parts produced with these tools have a better surface finish.

Drill Bits

Drill bits are used to remove material from the workpiece to generate circular holes. They can have one or more flutes and are available in various sizes and shapes. Precision machines can accommodate a range of drill bits to perform several drilling operations.

Below are given different types of drill bits used during CNC machining operations:

  • Twist Drill Bits: They are employed when we have to generate holes in a piece of wood, plastics, or metals. But are predominantly used for drilling metals.
  • Center Drill Bits: These are used when we are required to create holes at the center of a workpiece so that it can turn between centers on a lathe.
  • Ejector Drill Bits: This type of drill bit is used when we do deep hole drilling.

Ball Cutters

Ball cutters (also referred to as ball mills) are milling tools used to create corner radiuses for perpendicular faces. They are easily recognized because they have a hemispherical cutting tip.

Reamers

Reamers are tools employed to widen holes in a blank to render a more detailed and precise diameter and smooth finishing. They offer many tight tolerances as compared to other cutting tools. 

Hollow Mills

This type of CNC machining tool has a pipe shape and looks inverted. Hollow mills are pretty different from face-milling cutters. They are used to generate cylindrical shapes. But here, the blank piece is fed into the inner part of the mill.

Side-and-Face Cutters

Side-and-face cutters are the predecessor of the end mill tools and have teeth on the side and circumference, both as suggested by the name of the tool. These are used when we require to make slots and grooves. These tools function similarly to end mills, but their usage has decreased due to the advent of better technologies.

Key Considerations While Selecting the Right CNC Machine Tool

The success of any CNC business rests upon many factors, and the proper selection and usage of CNC machine tools are among them. Because only then can you create premium-quality finished products for your customers.

Nonetheless, selecting the right tools is not child’s play because a lot of things must be taken into account before deciding what tools are suitable for your business and what are not. The price of the component, its quality, and return on investment (ROI) are a few factors to name. Let us dig deeper into the process of tool selection.

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Cost is the Prime Factor

Cost is the cornerstone of every business investment. “The less the cost, the better” is the jargon one often gets to listen to vis-à-vis business investments. Nonetheless, this jargon cannot be implemented in the CNC machining industry in true letter and spirit. Because in this industry, the cost of the machine tools is directly related to the quality, durability, and lifespan of the machine.

You must choose the tools according to the characteristics of your CNC machine. That is, whether or not the tool under consideration is the right fit for your project. Can it bear the pressure and force that your machine will produce, and how much wear and tear can it bear? All these things correlate to the price. So, your focus should be more on quality and less on price.

Production Quality

After price, the most important factor is the quality of the tool. Because the premium-quality tools give high performance and durability. Low-quality machine tools, on the other hand, might damage the whole batch or CNC machine or worker in case of failure or accidents.

Moreover, they will compromise the much-needed precision and accuracy, which are the lifeblood of CNC machine operations. Thus, manufacturing quality is the most important factor after price.

Ease to Avail Spare Parts or Tool Warranty

Next in line characteristic is the easy availability of spare parts, product warranty, and aftersales support. Because these factors can be a sigh of relief in case of problems with the machine. But if these things are not taken into account, then tools can cause unnecessary and expensive delays in the business, which translates into the loss of money. Thus, you must purchase only those CNC machine tools readily available in the market and possess aftersales support.

Safety is a Must Consideration

While purchasing CNC machine tools, safety is often overlooked. Nonetheless, it ought to be the center of the discussion, given the nature of the business, because you must take care of the safety of your operator, machine, and workshop. Otherwise, it might hurt your business. Thus, safety must be the key consideration while making any purchase.

Tool Changer Design

You must take into account the tool holder as well as the tool changer layout because easy accessibility of tools and ease of replacement of damaged tools can save you a lot of money. Thus, it must be on your checklist.

High Power and Capacity Spindles

Power consumption and capacity are also vital considerations. It would be best to ensure that the spindles have high power and quality, large bearing, and minor wear and tear. Because cheap spindles are likely to fail to cut rigid materials. That is why the machine’s power, capacity, and speed are important considerations.

Conclusion:

Computer numerical control is a technologically advanced machining process. It offers a massive range of materials to choose from to perform various machining operations. Some important types of CNC machining tools are discussed above.

But selecting the right CNC machining tools is key to your successful project completion. We also mentioned some key considerations that you need to take care of while choosing a CNC tool for your project.

What are the different types of tools in CNC?

CNC Machine Tools: Choosing the Right Tool for CNC Machining

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