HRC55 Golden Color 4 Flute Long Shank Square End Mill Cutter 1/4 Inch Coating
A material like aluminum produces large chips compared to other materials. For that reason, 4 flute end mills are rarely used with aluminum because the flutes can get jammed with chips and break the cutter.
For harder materials, you want to use more flutes. Having more flutes reduces chip load and improves surface finish.
While the number, direction and type of flutes that a cutting tool has can vary widely, the tools most commonly used have two flutes and are up-cut spirals to move the chips up out of the cut.
1. Two Flute: Has the greatest amount of flute space, allowing for more chip carrying capacity in softer materials. Used primarily in slotting and pocketing of non-ferrous materials like aluminum where chip removal is a concern.
2. Three Flute: Allows for better part finish in harder materials. The three flutes provide for greater strength and the ability to pocket and slot both ferrous and non-ferrous materials.
3. Four Flute/Multiple Flute: Ideal for finish milling. The extra flutes allow for faster feed rates to produce a much finer finish than two or three flute tools. However, the reduced flute space may cause problems with chip removal.
The most common flute numbers for general milling operations are two (better space for chip ejection) and four (better surface finish).
End Mill Materials
End mills are made out of either cobalt steel alloys (known as high speed steel, or HSS), or from tungsten carbide in a cobalt lattice (shortened to "carbide").
1. High Speed Steel (HSS): Provides good wear resistance and costs less than cobalt or carbide end mills. HSS is used for general purpose milling of both ferrous and nonferrous materials. While usually inexpensive, HSS does not offer the tool life or speed advantages of cobalt and carbide end mills.
2. Cobalt: Cobalt is an M42 tool steel with an 8% cobalt content. Cobalt is more expensive but provides better wear resistance and toughness than HSS (M7). Because the tool can run 10% faster than HSS, metal removal rates and finish are better than HSS.
3. Solid Carbide: Carbide is considerably harder, more rigid, and more wear resistant than HSS. However, carbide is brittle and tends to chip instead of wear. Carbide is used primarily in finishing applications. Carbide tools are best suited for shops operating newer milling machines or machines with minimal spindle wear. Rigidity is critical when using carbide tools. Carbide end mills may require a premium price over the cobalt end mills, but they can also be run at speeds 2 1/2 times faster than HSS end mills.
Production Flow
The choice of tool material depends on the material to be cut as well as on the maximum spindle speed of the machine. Smaller milling machines may not be capable of reaching the spindle speeds recommended for carbide end mills.
