Stepped End Mill Geometry for Clean Composite and Wire Cutting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing end mill cutters are limited in their application to milling layered composite materials and struggle to prevent delamination and fiber protrusions during processing, and they are not suitable for stripping wires effectively.
Innovation Solution
An end mill cutter design with a cutting head featuring helically running cutting webs divided by divider grooves, a shaft-side cutting step, and an end face-side cutting step with a transition section, allowing for the processing of corners and edges of wires and achieving good surface quality in layered composite materials and soft metal processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the cutting head has a constant outer diameter over its entire axial length, then the tool design is simple and manufacturing is easier, but the tool cannot effectively process corners and edges of wires with rectangular cross section
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting head is segmented into two distinct sections with different diameters: a first section with a smaller diameter and a second section with a larger diameter. This segmentation allows each section to perform different functions - the smaller section for general milling and the larger section for processing wire corners and edges, thereby resolving the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and processing versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a dimensional change by creating a step structure that varies the diameter along the axial length of the cutting head. This dimensional variation enables the tool to access and process different geometries of wire corners and edges, adding capability without significantly complicating the overall tool design.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the cutting head is designed with a step structure for wire processing, then the tool can process corners and edges of wires, but the manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting head with the step structure serves multiple functions: the first section processes general surfaces and the second section processes wire corners and edges. This multi-functionality justifies the increased structural complexity by eliminating the need for multiple separate tools, thereby reducing overall system complexity and cost.
3Device complexity
If conventional end mill cutters are used for milling fiber reinforced plastics, then the tool design is simple, but delamination and fiber protrusions occur on the plate surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting head incorporates a step structure where different sections have different cutting characteristics. The first section with smaller diameter provides one type of cutting action while the second section with larger diameter provides another, allowing local optimization of cutting quality to prevent delamination and fiber protrusions in specific areas of the FRP material.
Data Source
AI summary
An end mill cutter (1; 100) includes a shaft (10) and a cutting head (20) with a number of helically running cutting webs (50), which are spaced apart from one another by means of flutes (30). The cutting webs (50) are divided into cutting web segments (60) at least over a portion of their length by a number of divider grooves (40) running helically in the opposite direction. The cutting head (20) is divided into a shaft-side cutting step (22) and an end face-side cutting step (24) adjoining the shaft-side cutting step (22) via a transition section (23) with a cutting diameter, which is smaller with respect to the shaft-side cutting step (22).