What Is A Ball Nose End Mill Used For

Also known as ball nose end mills they are rotated against a workpiece to make round bottomed slots and pockets or mill complex shapes without sharp corners.

What is a ball nose end mill used for. Ball nose milling without a tilt angle. Ball nose spiral end mills are used for smooth contouring and fine detail passes with a cnc router and often for complex shapes like 3d carvings. A ball nose end mill also known as a spherical end mill or ball end mill has a semisphere at the tool end. A ball end milling cutter is also known as a ball nose mill.

Ball nose end mills are ideal for machining 3 dimensional contour shapes typically found in the mold and die industry the manufacturing of turbine blades and fulfilling general part radius requirements to properly employ a ball nose end mill with no tilt angle and gain the optimal tool life and part finish follow the 2 step process below see figure 1. The diagram above shows the difference in clearing path shape between a fish tail ball nose and v tools. The design of ball end mills forms a hemispherical cutting action identical to the diameter of the tool. Ball nose end mills are used on workpieces with complex surfaces.

The words end mill are generally used to refer to flat bottomed cutters but also include rounded cutters referred to as ball nosed and radiused cutters referred to as bull nose or torus they are usually made from high speed steel or cemented carbide and have one or more flutes. Ball nose mills are often selected when doing 3d contouring because their rounded edge reduces jagged steps when cutting several stepped layers. End mills middle row in image are those tools which have cutting teeth at one end as well as on the sides. Ball end mills are used for drilling shallow holes slotting a channel where a flat bottom is not required or most commonly used to produce multi dimensional contours in molds or dies.

A ball end mill is constructed of a round cutting edge and used. Ball nose mills can also be used to cut wide paths with rounded edges by reducing the step over. Because of the shapes required in these products it s common that multi axis machining. Ball end mills also known as ball nose end mills are used for milling contoured surfaces slotting and pocketing.

Choosing flat end mill vs. The end of this tool is ground with a full radius equal to half of the tool diameter and the edges are center cutting. The rounded ends produce smooth curves that would be impossible to achieve with flat end bits. 3 16 solid carbide ball nose end mill 3 flute 2 long usa htc 135 3187 d12.