Face milling is the milling of surfaces that are perpendicular to the cutter axis, as shown in Figure 8-30. Face milling produces flat surfaces and machines work to the required length. In face milling, the feed can be either horizontal or vertical.

In face milling, the teeth on the periphery of the cutter do practically all of the cutting. However, when the cutter is properly ground, the face teeth actually remove a small amount of stock which is left as a result of the springing of the workpiece or cutter, thereby producing a finer finish.

It is important in face milling to have the cutter securely mounted and to see that all end play or sloppiness in the machine spindle is eliminated.

Mounting the Workpiece

When face milling, the workpiece may be clamped to the table or angle plate or supported in a vise, fixture, or jig.

Large surfaces are generally face milled on a vertical milling machine with the workpiece clamped directly to the milling machine table to simplify handling and clamping operations.

Figure 4-30. Face milling.

Angular surfaces can also be face milled on a swivel cutter head milling machine (Figure 8-31). In this case, the workpiece is mounted parallel to the table and the cutter head is swiveled to bring the end milling cutter perpendicular to the surface to be produced.

Figure 4-31. Angular face milling.

During face milling operations, the workpiece should be fed against the milling cutter so that the pressure of the cut is downward, thereby holding the piece against the table. Whenever possible, the edge of the workpiece should be in line with the center of the cutter. This position of the workpiece in relation to the cutter will help eliminate slippage.

Depth of Cut

When setting the depth of cut, the workpiece should be brought up to just touch the revolving cutter. After a cut has been made from this setting, measurement of the workpiece is taken. At this point, the graduated dial on the traverse feed is locked and used as a guide in determining the depth of cut.

When starting the cut, the workpiece should be moved so that the cutter is nearly in contact with its edge, after which the automatic feed may be engaged.

When a cut is started by hand, care must be taken to avoid pushing the corner of the workpiece between the teeth of the cutter too quickly, as this may result in cutter tooth breakage. In order to avoid wasting time during the operation, the feed trips should be adjusted to stop the table travel just as the cutter clears the workpiece.