Endmill

An endmill is a shank-type Milling cutter, a cutting tool used in industrial milling applications. It is distinguished from the drill bit, in its application, geometry, and manufacture. Whereas a drill bit can only cut in the axial direction, a milling bit can generally cut in all directions, though some cannot cut axially.

Types

Several broad categories of end- and face-milling tools exist, such as center-cutting versus non-center-cutting (whether the mill can take plunging cuts); and categorization by number of flutes; by helix angle; by material; and by coating material. Each category may be further divided by specific application and special geometry.

It is becoming increasingly common for traditional solid endmills to be replaced by more cost-effective inserted cutting tools (which, though more expensive initially, reduce tool-change times and allow for the easy replacement of worn or broken cutting edges rather than the entire tool).

Endmills are sold in both imperial and metric shank and cutting diameters. In the USA, metric is readily available, but not commonly used by machine shops; in Canada, due to the country's proximity to the US, much the same is true. In Asia and Europe, while imperial is readily available, metric diameters are standard.