Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4
Cutting Tool Principles
Cutting tools such as slot drills and end mills are available in high speed
steel (HSS) and tungsten carbide. The tungsten carbide milling cutters can
be either ground from solid tungsten carbide or made with a toughened steel
body that takes inserted tungsten carbide inserts. Steel shank cutters with
brazed-on carbide inserts are also available.
CUTTING TOOLS
Slot drills
As their name suggests, slot drills are mainly used for cutting slots. This can
be as simple as a keyway or it can be a complicated shape which bears no
resemblance to a parallel slot. They can also be used for machining a pre-
drilled hole to size. Most slot drills can be used to plunge drill straight into a
solid chunk of metal as the two flutes are usually ground off-centre. This type
of slot drill is usually known as a centre cutting slot drill.
