Shaping Conical End Mills: A Critical Review

Abstract

Conical end mills are widely used as cutting tools in the production of components for the aerospace industry and for machine building. The helical channel of conical mills is more complex than a regular cylindrical channel. Its core diameter and profile angle are variable. The operational efficiency of the mill depends directly on those angles and on the rake angle at the edge. Multidimensional tool motion is required to produce conical helical channels; recalculation is necessary at each stage of the motion. Determination of that motion calls for comprehensive solution of the profiling problem; some new developments in such research have appeared recently. In the present work, the change in the shaping configuration in terms of the cut layer width is analyzed. Recommendations are made regarding the determination of the shaping configuration; its influence on the shape of the machined sections at the front and back of the mill tooth in the helical channel is considered. The most important approaches to machining conical end mills are discussed. On the basis of the analysis, a new algorithm is derived for positioning the grinding wheel with respect to the mill axis on the basis of its contact parameters at a helical conical surface.