Patent Application
20120282043
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a cutter and, more particularly, to a milling cutter which can perform curved surface and flat surface cuts together during a forming process.
2. Description of Related Art
Consumers want housings of electronic devices to appear with three dimensional effect. In traditional machining processes, ball cutter is used to machine these workpieces which have a curved surface and a flat surface. However, the precision of the machining process will be relatively low because the shape of the cutting edge of the ball cutter does not match the shape of the workpieces. In addition, the cutting edge is in the form of a line, and the cutting area is small. Thus, it occupies a relatively long time to achieve the demanded shape with a high quality.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.
The elements in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
Referring to
Referring also to
In the illustrated embodiment, the cutter handle 10 can be a straight shank or a tapered shank. The cutter handle 10 is substantially cylindrical, and defines a center axis α. In machining, the cutter handle 10 rotates about the center axis a as a rotation axis. The cutter handle 10 is used for fixing the cutter 100 to a main shaft (not shown) of a numerical control machine (not shown), to maintain the stability of the cutter 100 during machining.
In the present embodiment, the cutter neck 30 is cylindrically aligned in the same center axis a with a smaller diameter than that of the cutter handle 10. At least one rectangular chip discharge groove 33 is defined on an outer surface of the cutter neck 30, and parallel to the axis a. In the illustrated embodiment, three chip discharge grooves 33 are aligned at the same intervals.
The cutter head 50 is a substantially circular dish. The cutter head 50 is positioned in the one distal end of the cutter neck 30 opposite to the cutter handle 10. In the illustrated embodiment, the cutter head 50, the cutter neck 30 and the cutter handle 10 are aligned in the same axis and integrally formed. The cutter head 50 includes a connecting side surface 51, an outer annular surface 53, and a distal end surface 55. The connecting side surface 51 is an arcuate surface, and is a transitional area between the cutter head 50 and the cutter neck 30. The diameter of the outer annular surface 53 is larger than that of the cutter handle 10 and the cutter neck 30, respectively. The two ends of the outer annular surface 53 are connected to the connecting side surface 51 and the distal end surface 55, respectively.
The cutter head 50 further includes at least one cutting edge 58 formed on the connecting side surface 51, the outer annular surface 53, and the distal end surface 55 extending from the joint of the connecting side surface 51 connected with the cutter neck 30 toward a center of the distal end surface 55. In the illustrated embodiment, three cutting edges 58 are formed and arranged apart. Every cutting edge 58 includes a first cutting portion 581, a second cutting portion 582 and a third cutting portion 583 extending from the joint of the connecting side surface 51 connected with the cutter neck 30 toward the center of the distal end surface 55 in that order. The first cutting portion 581 is an arcuate shaped surface matching with the curved surface 21 of the workpiece 200, and formed from the junction of the connecting side surface 51 connected to the cutter neck 30 to the joint of the connecting side surface 51 connected to the outer annular surface 53. The first cutting portion 581 is configured for machining the curved surface 21 of the workpiece 200. The second cutting portion 582 appears in the shape of a spherical surface. The second cutting portion 582 is formed on the outer annular surface 53, and connected to the first cutting portion 581. The second cutting portion 582 is used for cutting the transitional surface 23 of the workpiece 200. The third cutting portion 583 is formed on the distal end surface 55, and connected to the second cutting portion 582 for milling the flat surface 25 of the workpiece 200.
Corresponding to the at least one cutting edge 58, the cutter head 50 defines at least one cutting trough 59 on the outer surface thereof. The at least one cutting trough 59 is connected with the at least one chip discharge groove 33. In the illustrated embodiment, three cutting troughs 59 are formed. Every cutting trough 59 is substantially in the shape of a fan-shaped cavity section. Every cutter trough 59 extends from the distal end of the cutter neck 30 to the middle portion of the cutter head 50.
Referring to
The milling cutter 100 can perform the fabricating of the curved surface 21, the flat surface 25 and the transitional surface 23 in the single forming process. The cutting area is maximized due to the arcuate shape of the cutter edge 58. Thus, efficiency can be improved. Higher machining quality can be achieved due to the fact that the shape of the cutting edge 58 matches the surface of the workpiece 200.
Hard alloy or high speed steel with excellent strength and toughness are used to make the milling cutter 100. Furthermore, according to the applications of the cutter 100, stiff membrane can be formed on the outer surface of the cutter 100 to improve the cutting quality , such as using materials such asTiC, AlTiN or TiCN.
It is believed that the present embodiments and their advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure or sacrificing all of its material advantages.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201110112201.7 | May 2011 | CN | national |
