# --> Introduction To The Milling Machine



## HMF

INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO USE A MILLING MACHINE


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This information was originally compiled by the US Army.
Presented to you free by American Machine Tools Company.

Milling is the process of machining flat, curved, or irregular surfaces by feeding the workpiece against a rotating cutter containing a number of cutting edges. The usual Mill consists basically of a motor driven spindle, which mounts and revolves the milling cutter, and a reciprocating adjustable worktable, which mounts and feeds the workpiece.

Milling machines are basically classified as vertical or horizontal. These machines are also classified as knee-type, ram-type, manufacturing or bed type, and planer-type. Most milling machines have self-contained electric drive motors, coolant systems, variable spindle speeds, and power-operated table feeds




Diagram of typical "Bridgeport style" milling machine head

*TYPES OF MILLING MACHINES*
*KNEE-TYPE*
Knee-type mills are characterized by a vertically adjustable worktable resting on a saddle which is supported by a knee. The knee is a massive casting that rides vertically on the milling machine column and can be clamped rigidly to the column in a position where the milling head and milling machine spindle are properly adjusted vertically for operation.

The plain vertical machines are characterized by a spindle located vertically, parallel to the column face, and mounted in a sliding head that can be fed up and down by hand or power. Modern vertical milling machines are designed so the entire head can also swivel to permit working on angular surfaces.

The turret and swivel head assembly is designed for making precision cuts and can be swung 360° on its base. Angular cuts to the horizontal plane may be made with precision by setting the head at any required angle within a 180° arc.

The plain horizontal milling machine's column contains the drive motor and gearing and a fixed position horizontal milling machine spindle. An adjustable overhead arm containing one or more arbor supports projects forward from the top of the column. The arm and arbor supports are used to stabilize long arbors. Supports can be moved along the overhead arm to support the arbor where support is desired depending on the position of the milling cutter or cutters.

The milling machine's knee rides up or down the column on a rigid track. A heavy, vertical positioning screw beneath past the milling cutter. The milling machine is excellent for forming flat surfaces, cutting dovetails and keyways, forming and fluting milling cutters and reamers, cutting gears, and so forth. Many special operations can be performed with the attachments available for milling machine use. the knee is used for raising and lowering. The saddle rests upon the knee and supports the worktable. The saddle moves in and out on a dovetail to control cross feed of the worktable. The worktable traverses to the right or left upon the saddle for feeding the workpiece past the milling cutter. The table may be manually controlled or power fed.

*UNIVERSAL HORIZONTAL MILLING MACHINE*
The basic difference between a universal horizontal milling machine and a plain horizontal milling machine is the addition of a table swivel housing between the table and the saddle of the universal machine. This permits the table to swing up to 45° in either direction for angular and helical milling operations. The universal machine can be fitted with various attachments such as the indexing fixture, rotary table, slotting and rack cutting attachments, and various special fixtures.

*RAM-TYPE MILLING MACHINE*
The ram-type milling machine is characterized by a spindle mounted to a movable housing on the column to permit positioning the milling cutter forward or rearward in a horizontal plane. Two popular ram-type milling machines are the universal milling machine and the swivel cutter head ram-type milling machine.

*UNIVERSAL RAM-TYPE MILLING MACHINE*
The universal ram-type milling machine is similar to the universal horizontal milling machine, the difference being, as its name implies, the spindle is mounted on a ram or movable housing.

*SWIVEL CUTTER HEAD RAM-TYPE MILLING MACHINE*
The cutter head containing the milling machine spindle is attached to the ram. The cutter head can be swiveled from a vertical spindle position to a horizontal spindle position or can be fixed at any desired angular position between vertical and horizontal. The saddle and knee are hand driven for vertical and cross feed adjustment while the worktable can be either hand or power driven at the operator's choice.

Basic milling machine configurations are shown in Figure 8-1.

Table 8-8 in Machinist Tables lists the standard dimensions for 4, 6, 10, and 16-spline shafts.

*Milling Splines*

Spline shafts can be milled on the milling machine in a manner similar to the cutting of keyways.

The shaft to be splined is set up between centers in the indexing fixture.

Two side milling cutters are mounted to an arbor with a spacer and shims inserted between them. The spacer and shims are chosen to make space between the inner teeth of the cutters equal to the width of the spline to be cut (Table 8-8).

The arbor and cutters are mounted to the milling machine spindle, and the milling machine is adjusted so that the cutters are centered over the shaft.

The splines are cut by straddle milling each spline to the required depth (Table 8-8) and using the index head of the indexing fixture to rotate the workpiece the correct distance between each spline position.

After the splines are milled to the correct depth, mount a narrow plain milling cutter in the arbor and mill the spaces between the splines to the proper depth. It will be necessary to make several passes to cut the groove uniformly so that the spline fitting will not interfere with the grooves. A formed spline milling cutter, if available, can be used for this operation.

*DRILLING*
The milling machine may be used effectively for drilling, since accurate location of the hole may be secured by means of the feed screw graduations. Spacing holes in a circular path, such as the holes in an index plate, may be accomplished by indexing with the index head positioned vertically.

Twist drills may be supported in drill chucks fastened in the milling machine spindle or mounted directly in milling machine collets or adapters. The workpiece to be drilled is fastened to the milling machine table by clamps, vises, or angle plates.

*BORING*
Various types of boring tool holders may be used for boring on the milling machine, the boring tools being provided with either straight shanks to be held in chucks and holders or taper shanks to fit collets and adapters. The two attachments most commonly used for boring are the fly cutter arbor and the offset boring head.

The single-edge cutting tool used for boring on the milling machine is the same as a lathe cutter bit. Cutting speeds, feeds, and depth of cut should be the same as that prescribed for lathe operations.

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This information was originally compiled by the US Army.

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