Chapter twenty three

Machining process used to produce various shapes

Objective: To illustrate the important machining operations and the machine tools used
to produce various shapes such as milling, broaching and sawing.
23.1 Introduction:
Turning and drilling machines produce round shapes while milling, broaching and sawing
can produce various shapes. The geometric form created by milling is a plane surface.
Other work geometries can be created either by means of the cutter path or the cutter
shape. Milling is an interrupted cutting operation; the teeth of the milling cutter enter and
exit the work during each revolution. This interrupted cutting action subjects the teeth to
a cycle of impact force and thermal shock on every rotation. The tool material and cutter
geometry must be designed to with stand these conditions. In addition to milling
machining, other machining operations are included in this chapter such as broaching and
sawing.
23.2 Milling
Milling is a machine operation in which a work part is fed past a rotating cylindrical tool
with multiple cutting edges. The axis of rotation of the cutting tool is perpendicular to the
direction of feed. This orientation between the tool axis and the feed direction is one of
the features that distinguish milling from drilling. In drilling, the cutting tool is fed in
direction parallel to its axis of rotation. The cutting tool in milling is called a milling
cutter and the cutting edges are called teeth. The machine tool that traditionally
performed this operation is called milling machine.
23.2.1 Types of milling operations
There are two basic types of milling operations, peripheral milling and face milling as
shown in figure (23.1).
1) Peripheral milling also called plain milling:
- The axis of the tool is parallel to the surface being machined, and the operation is
performed by cutting edges on the outside periphery of the cutter.
- The tool cutter is made of high-speed steel
- There are several types of peripheral milling as shown in figure 23.2, these types are
a) Slab milling: The cutter teeth are longer than the cut surface width (i.e. the cutter width
extends beyond the work part on both sides.
b) Slotting (Slot milling): the width of the cutter is less than the work part width, creating
a slot in the work part
c) Slitting (slit milling): when the cutter is very thin, this operation can be used to mill
narrow slit or cut the work part into two parts like sawing so it is also called saw milling.
d) Side milling: the cutter machines the side of the work part
e) Straddle milling: same as the side milling, only cutting takes place on both sides of the
work.
f) Formed milling: The cutter has curved surface to produce curve shapes.
g) T-slot milling: To produce T-shape inside the work piece.
In peripheral milling, the rotational direction of the cutter distinguishes two forms of
milling and down milling as shown in figure 23.3
a) Conventional milling (up milling)
- The tool rotates cw or ccw
- The direction of motion of the cutter teeth is opposite the feed direction when the teeth
cut into the work part it is milling against the feed.
- The cutting tool is sharp otherwise the tool tend to chatter
-Advantage: 1- The tooth engagement is not function of the work part surface
characteristics.
2- Oxide layer not effect on the tool life
- The chip formed by each cutter tooth starts out very thin and increases in thickness
during the sweep of the cutter.
b) Climb milling (down milling):
- The direction of cutter motion is the same as the feed direction when the teeth cut the
work. It is milling with the feed.
- Not suitable for hot-worked metal, forging, casting because they are hard produce high
temperature during cutting which cause wear damage in the tool teeth resulting in
reducing tool life.
- The chip formed by each cutter tooth starts out thick and reduces in thickness
throughout the cut.
2- Face milling:
- The axis of the cutter is perpendicular to the surface being milled and machining is
performed by cutting edges on both the end and outside periphery of the cuter.
- The face milling have different types, these types are shown in figure (23.4)
a) Conventional face milling: In which the diameter of the cutter is greater than the work
part width, so that the cutter overhangs the work on both sides.
b) Partial face milling: Where the cutter overhangs the work on only one side
c) End milling: in which the cutter diameter is less than the work width, so a slot is cut
into the part.
d) Profile milling: a form of end milling in which the outside periphery of a flat part is cut
e) Pocket milling: another form of end milling used to mill shallow pockets into flat parts
f) Surface contouring: in which a ball-nose cutter rather than square-end cutter is fed back
and forth across the work along a curvilinear path at close intervals to create a three
dimensional surface form or to produce sculptured surface.
g) Hollow end milling: have internal cutter teeth in order to machine cylindrical surface.
23.2.2 Milling cutter
Classification of milling cutter is closely associated with the milling operations described
in the previous section. The major types of milling cutter are
1- Plain milling cutter: These are used for peripheral or slab milling as shown in figure
(23.5). This figure indicates they are cylindrical shaped with several rows of teeth. The
cutting edges are usually oriented at a helix angle to reduce impact on entry into the work
part and these cutters are called helical milling cutters.
2- Form milling cutters: These are peripheral milling cutters in which the cutting edges
have a special profile that is to be imported to the work. An important application is in
gear making, in which the form milling cutter is shaped to cut the slots between adjacent
gear teeth, thereby leaving the geometry of the gear teeth as shown in figure (23.2 f).
3- End milling cutters: An end cutter looks like a drill bit, but close inspection indicates
that it is designed for primary cutting with its peripheral teeth rather than its end. End
mills are designed with square ends with radii, and ball ends. End mills can be used for
face milling, profile milling and pocketing, cutting slots and engraving surface
contouring as shown in figure (23.6).
4- Face milling cutter: These are designed with teeth that cut on both the side as the
periphery of the cutter. Face milling cutters are made of high speed steel as shown in
figure (23.6) or they can be designed to use cemented carbide inserts as in figure (23.7).
For face milling cutters with inserts and because of relative motion between the cutter
teeth and the work part, the tool cutter leaves feed marks during cutting operation. The
feed marks depend on the corner geometry of the inserts and the feed per tooth. The types
of inserts that used in the face tool cutter are described in figure (23.8).
23.2.3 Cutting conditions in milling
1) Peripheral milling parameters
Figure (23.9) illustrate the cutter travel distance lc to reach full depth of cut (d), also the
figure shows the cutting parameters. These parameters are N is the rotational speed of the
milling cutter (rpm), f is the feed (mm/tooth) or ((in/tooth), D is the cutter diameter (mm
or in), n is the number of teeth on cutter, v is the linear speed of the work part or feed rate
(mm/min or in/min), V is the surface speed of cutter (m/min or ft/min), l is the length of
cut (mm or in), t is the cutting time (second or min), MRR is the material removable rate
(mm3/min or in3/min), lc is the extent of the cutter’s first contact with work part, w is the
width of cut in (mm or in) and Fc is the cutting force (N). These parameters are
summarized in table (23.1). Where
Surface speed of cutter (V)
V = DN (23.1)
Feed per tooth (f)
f = v/Nn (23.2)
Cutting time (t)
t = (l+lc)/v (23.3)
Horizontal extent of cutter’s first contact with the work part (lc)
lc = (Dd)0.5 (23.4)
Material removable rate (MRR)
MRR = (Lwd)/t = wdv (23.5)
Torque (T) in (N.m or Ib.ft)
T = FcD/2 (23.6)
Power (P) in (kW or hp)
 P = (Torque) (ω) (23.7)

Table (23.1): Summary of milling parameters and formulas

2) Face milling parameters:

Figure (23.10) shows the face milling parameters. Actually the parameters in the face
milling are the same as the parameters in peripheral parameter except the following two
equations
Cutting time (t)
t = (l+2lc)/v (23.8)
Horizontal extent of cutter’s first contact with the work part (lc) = D/2 (23.9)
Example
Slab milling operating to cut out on 12 in long and 4 in wide mild steel block at feed of
0.01 in/tooth and depth of cut equal to (1/8) in. The cutter diameter is 2 in has 20 straight
teeth rotate at 100 rpm. Find MRR, Power, torque and cutting time
solution
Work part speed v = fNn = (0.01)(100)(20) = 20 in/min
MRR = wdv = (4)(1/8)(20) = 10 in3/min
From the table (chapter 22) the specific energy for mild steel is 1.1 hp.min/in3
Power = (U)(MRR) = (1.1)(10) = 11 hp
Torque = Power/ω = (11)(33000)/(2π)(100) = 578 Ib.ft
Cutting time t = (lc+l)/v
lc = (Dd)0.5 = ((2)(1/8))0.5 = 0.5 in
t = (0.5)+(12)/20 = 0.625 min = 37.5 sec

23.3 Broaching
- Broaching is performed using a multiple tooth cutting tool by moving the tool linearly
relative to the work part in direction of the tool axis as shown in figure (23.11). The
cutting tool is called a broach and the machine tool is called a broaching machine.
- In certain jobs for which broaching can be used it is a highly productive method of
machining, it is produce good surface finishing, close tolerance and a variety of work
shapes. On the other hand the broaching tool is very expensive.
- There are two principal types of broaching external (also called surface broaching) and
internal:
1- External broaching: is performed on the outside surface of the work to create a certain
cross-sectional shape on the surface as shown in figure (23.12a).
2- Internal broaching: is accomplished on the internal surface of a hole in the part.
Accordingly, a starting hole must be present in the part so as to insert the broach at the
beginning of the broaching stroke as in figure (23.12b).
-The basic function of a broaching machine is to provide a precise linear motion of the
tool past a stationary work position, but there are various ways in which this can be done.
-Most broaching machines can be classified as either vertical or horizontal machines. The
vertical broaching machine is designed to move the broach along a vertical path while the
horizontal broaching machine has horizontal tool trajectory as shown in figure (23.13)
- Most broaching machines pull the broach past the work. However, there are exceptions
to this pull action. One exception is a relatively simple type called a broaching press used
only for internal broaching that pushes the tool through the work part. Another exception
is the continuous broaching machine, in which the work parts are fixture to an endless
belt loop and moved past a stationary broach. Because of its continuous operation, this
machine can be used only for surface broaching.