A novel tool concept for roughing and finishing operations

In this paper, a new tool concept suitable for simultaneous roughing and finishing operations is presented. The developed end mill has two radial recessed roughing teeth with a flank face chamfer and two sharp finishing teeth. While the chamfered cutting edges ensure a high process stability due to process damping, the sharp cutting edges generate the final surface. In order to investigate the roughing and finishing capabilities, the tool was compared with a roughing tool with chamfered teeth only and a finishing tool with sharp teeth only. With all three tool concepts milling experiments were carried out, in which forces, process stability and surface quality were analyzed. The generated surface quality for the new tool concept could be significantly improved compared to the roughing tool. However, the aimed surface quality of the finishing tool with sharp edges could not be achieved. Moreover, experimental results show that the process stability of the new tool concept is significantly higher than the process stability of the finishing tool.