Tag Archive for: tapered end mill

Selecting the Right Harvey Tool Miniature Drill

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Among Harvey Tool’s expansive holemaking solutions product offering are several different types of miniature drill options and their complements. Options range from Miniature Spotting Drills to Miniature High Performance Drills – Deep Hole – Coolant Through. But which tools are appropriate for the hole you aim to leave in your part? Which tool might your current carousel be missing, leaving efficiency and performance behind? Understanding how to properly fill your tool repertoire for your desired holemaking result is the first step toward achieving success.

Pre-Drilling Considerations

Miniature Spotting Drills

Depending on the depth of your desired machined hole and its tolerance mandates, as well as the surface of the machine you will be drilling, opting first for a Miniature Spotting Drill might be beneficial. This tool pinpoints the exact location of a hole to prevent common deep-hole drilling mishaps such as walking, or straying from a desired path. It can also help to promote accuracy in instances where there is an uneven part surface for first contact. Some machinists even use Spotting Drills to leave a chamfer on the top of a pre-drilled hole. For extremely irregular surfaces, however, such as the side of a cylinder or an inclined plane, a Flat Bottom Drill or Flat Bottom Counterbore may be needed to lessen these irregularities prior to the drilling process.

spotting drill

Tech Tip: When spotting a hole, the spot angle should be equal to or wider than the angle of your chosen miniature drill. Simply, the miniature drill tip should contact the part before its flute face does.

spotting drill correct angle

Selecting the Right Miniature Drill

Harvey Tool stocks several different types of miniature drills, but which option is right for you, and how does each drill differ in geometry?

Miniature Drills

Harvey Tool Miniature Drills are popular for machinists seeking flexibility and versatility with their holemaking operation. Because this line of tooling is offered uncoated in sizes as small as .002” in diameter, machinists no longer need to compromise on precision to reach very micro sizes. Also, this line of tooling is designed for use in several different materials where specificity is not required.

miniature drill

Miniature High Performance Drills – Deep Hole – Coolant Through

For situations in which chip evacuation may be difficult due to the drill depth, Harvey Tool’s Deep Hole – Coolant Through Miniature Drills might be your best option. The coolant delivery from the drill tip will help to flush chips from within a hole, and prevent heeling on the hole’s sides, even at depths up to 20 multiples of the drill diameter.

miniature drill coolant through

Miniature High Performance Drills – Flat Bottom

Choose Miniature High Performance Flat Bottom Drills when drilling on inclined and rounded surfaces, or when aiming to leave a flat bottom on your hole. Also, when drilling intersecting holes, half holes, shoulders, or thin plates, its flat bottom tool geometry helps to promote accuracy and a clean finish.

flat bottom drill

Miniature High Performance Drills – Aluminum Alloys

The line of High Performance Drills for Aluminum Alloys feature TiB2 coating, which has an extremely low affinity to Aluminum and thus will fend off built-up edge. Its special 3 flute design allows for maximum chip flow, hole accuracy, finish, and elevated speeds and feeds parameters in this easy-to-machine material.

drill for aluminum

Miniature High Performance Drills – Hardened Steels

Miniature High Performance Drills – Hardened Steels features a specialized flute shape for improved chip evacuation and maximum rigidity. Additionally, each drill is coated in AlTiN Nano coating for hardness, and heat resistance in materials 48 Rc to 68 Rc.

drill for hardened steel

Miniature High Performance Drills – Prehardened Steels

As temperatures rise during machining, the AlTiN coating featured on Harvey Tool’s Miniature High Performance Drills – Prehardened Steels creates an aluminum oxide layer which helps to reduce thermal conductivity of the tool and helps to promote heat transfer to the chip, as well as improve lubricity and heat resistance in ferrous materials.

drill for prehardened steel

Post-Drilling Considerations

Miniature Reamers

For many operations, drilling the actual hole is only the beginning of the job. Some parts may require an ultra-tight tolerance, for which a Miniature Reamer (tolerances of +.0000″/-.0002″ for uncoated and +.0002″/-.0000″ for AlTiN Coated) can be used to bring a hole to size. miniature reamer

Tech Tip: In order to maintain appropriate stock removal amounts based on the reamer size, a hole should be pre-drilled at a diameter that is 90-94 percent of the finished reamed hole diameter.

Flat Bottom Counterbores

Other operations may require a hole with a flat bottom to allow for a superior connection with another part. Flat Bottom Counterbores leave a flat profile and straighten misaligned holes. For more information on why to use a Flat Bottom Counterbore, read 10 Reasons to Use Flat Bottom Tools.

flat bottom counterbores

Key Next Steps

Now that you’re familiar with miniature drills and complementary holemaking tooling, you must now learn key ways to go about the job. Understanding the importance of pecking cycles, and using the correct approach, is vital for both the life of your tool and the end result on your part. Read this post’s complement “Choosing the Right Pecking Cycle Approach,” for more information on the approach that’s best for your application.

Increase Productivity With Tapered End Mills

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In today’s manufacturing industry, the reach necessary for many complex parts is pushing the boundaries of plausibility. Deep cavities and complex side milling operations are typical to the mold, tool, and die industry but are also quite common in many machining applications requiring angled walls. Fortunately, many long reach applications include angled walls extending into deep pockets and mold cavities. These slight angles afford machinists the opportunity to gain the necessary strength of tapered reach tool designs.

Increased Tool Performance & Productivity

The benefits of tapered end mills become clear when considering the increase in cross-sectional area compared to tools with straight reaches. Generally speaking, the larger a tool’s diameter is, the stronger it will be. A tool with a tapered neck will offer an increasing cross section, resulting in less tool deflection and increased strength over straight reach options.

tapered end mills

When considering an end mill with a straight reach versus the same end mill with a slightly tapered reach, there are clear gains in tool performance and productivity. With just a 3° angle per side, feed rates may be increased by an average of 10% over a straight neck. In long-run jobs, or long run-time operations, this can offer a significant reduction in production time and cost. The same 3° angle also affords a tool as much as 60% less deflection than a straight neck tool (Figure 1). A taper as small as half a degree also provides a 10% decrease in deflection even for shorter reaches. This reduction in deflection results in less chatter, better finish, and ultimately a higher quality product.

Tapered End Mills vs. Straight End Mills

tapered end mills

Tapered Reach

Compared with straight reach end
mills, tapered reach end mills have the
following pros and cons:

Pros:

• Increased tool strength
• Reduced tool deflection
• Less chatter, better finish
• Higher speeds and feeds capability
• Increased productivity

Cons:

• Reduced clearance
• Not plausible for use in certain situations

tapered end mills

Tapered Length of Cut

End mills with a tapered length of cut experience
the following pros and cons when compared with
end mills with a straight length of cut:

Pros:

• Easier to create flat tapered walls on 3-axis machines
• Avoid witness marks caused by multiple passes with other tools
• Better, more consistent finish

Cons:

• “Single-use” tools, suited only to specific wall angles
• Inconsistent cutting diameter can complicate optimizing speeds and feeds

Despite the potential significant benefits of even a slight taper, it is important to note that tapered end mills are not a plausible choice for every job. Depending on the wall angle of your part, a tapered end mill can interfere with the work piece in situations where a straight tool would not. In Figure 2 below, the top two images show the ideal use of a tapered tool, while the bottom two images show when using a tapered end mill is implausible and a straight tool is necessary. Where clearances allow, an end mill with the largest possible tapered reach should be chosen for optimal tool performance.

tapered end mills

Even a slight taper offers an increase in tool performance over the same tool with a straight neck. With added strength and reduced deflection, the benefits of a tapered end mill can be significant, and extend to a much broader range of industries and applications beyond just mold tool and die.

Tapered Reach Tooling Interference Charts

Where clearances allow, an end mill with the largest possible tapered reach angle should be chosen to allow for optimal tool performance. Refer to Harvey Tool’s interference charts for our Square and Ball clearance cutters to ensure that you pick the ideal tapered end mill based on the parameters of your operation.

reach tooling interference chart square end

reach tooling interference chart ball end