Face Milling


For face milling, the axis of the cutter is perpendicular to the surface being milled, and machining is performed by cutting edges on both the end and outside periphery of the cutter. As in peripheral milling, various forms of face milling exist:
  • Conventional face milling, in which the diameter of the cutter is greater than the workpart width, so the cutter overhangs the work on both sides;
  • Partial face milling, where the cutter overhangs the work on only one side;
  • End milling, in which the cutter diameter is less than the work width, so a slot is cut into the part;
  • Profile milling, a form of end milling in which the outside periphery of a flat part is cut;
  • Pocket milling, another form of end milling used to mill shallow pockets into flat parts; and
  • Surface contouring, in which a ball-nose cutter (rather than square-end cutter) is fed back and forth across the work along a curvilinear path at close intervals to create a three-dimensional surface form.

    The same basic cutter control is required to machine the contours of molds and dies, in which case the operation is called die sinking.