TABLE OF CONTENTS In CNC machining, taper end mills are used in many industries for a large number of applications, such as walls with draft or clearance angle, tool and die work, mold work, even for reaming holes to make them conical. This section covers the applications of both flat and ball types of tapered end mills in standard, two dimensional machining (usually in the XY plane). Tapered walls can be created as a single side milling operation or as a continuous contour. In mold making and other 3D machining, tapered end mills are used differently only the small portion of the end mill tip is used for roughing or finishing surfaces.
There are two types of taper end mills, manufactured from high-speed steel (HSS) or solid carbide:
... tapered end mills with a flat tip also called tapered end mills with square end
... tapered end mills with a ball tip also called tapered end mills with ball nose end
In two-dimensional work (2D), their usage typically involves a selected depth of cut, followed by the required external or internal contouring. From the illustration below, it is apparent that the contour will be different at the top than at the bottom (at the tool tip), because of the taper. The part drawing determines the size and shape of the contour, which could have dimensions defined either at the bottom of the cut or at the top of the cut, with a given slope angle. The programming...
