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Step 1. Start up
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2
Choose the tool
Square (Straight)
Square end mills have cutting blades on the bottom
and sides. Although flat, the tips have a gap in the
blades in the centre, which makes them suitable for
profiling, surfacing and roughing, but not drilling. Slot
drills have continuous blades at the tip which makes
them better suited for drilling.
Ball
This tip has a rounded tip like a ‘ball.’
It has cutting blades on the tip and the sides.
It is very effective as a finishing tool for curved
surfaces, giving a very smooth finish.
The main characteristics when choosing a tool is the tip shape, blade
diameter, flute length and shaft diameter.
Shape of the tool tip
For Rough cutting
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For fast and efficient rough cutting, you should use the widest tool which will take away the majority of
the unwanted material as quickly as possible. The largest diameter tool you can use with the MDX-40A is
6mm. However, this may be too wide for the geometry of smaller models and could leave too much material
behind for a fine finishing tool to remove in holes, cavities, etc. Using a wider tool for roughing also means a
finer finishing tool will be required during the cutting process and will have to be changed manually.
Alternatively, the whole model can be cut using a smaller tool which can both rough and finish cut, but this may
take considerably longer to finish.
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So you must decide whether production time is more important than
unattended operation.
For finishing
Use the tool with the diameter that can fit into the smallest space of the model.
Select the square or ball end tool depending on whether the majority of the model has flat or curved
surfaces.
Radius
Also known as ‘bull nose’, the tool has a flat tip and rounded
corners, combining the elements of square and ball tools.
There are cutting blades on the tip and the sides. These tools
tend to cut faster than the ball equivalent because less
toolpaths are required. It is commonly used for roughing.
Conical
This V-shaped tool has a flattish tip and is used extensively
for engraving and also for fine detail work such as in jewellery
wax modelling. The tip sizes vary according to the width of
cut required.
