Claims
- 1. A cutting tool having a shank with a body portion extending from an end to an inception location, comprising:
a helical flute within the body portion, the flute having a cutting edge with an angle that varies along its length.
- 2. The cutting tool of claim 1, wherein the angle varies from smaller to larger.
- 3. The cutting tool of claim 1, including first and second flutes indexed from one another, and wherein the second flute has a cutting edge with an angle that varies along its length.
- 4. The cutting tool of claim 3, wherein the first flute has a cutting edge with an angle that remains constant along its length.
- 5. The cutting tool of claim 3, wherein the first flute has a cutting edge with an angle that varies along its length.
- 6. The cutting tool of claim 5, wherein the cutting edges of both flutes varies from smaller to larger.
- 7. The cutting tool of claim 6, wherein the variability of the first flute is different from that of the second flute.
- 8. The cutting tool of claim 5, wherein the cutting edges of both flutes varies from larger to smaller.
- 9. The cutting tool of claim 8, wherein the variability of the first flute is different from that of the second flute.
- 10. The cutting tool of claim 5, wherein the cutting edges of the first flute varies from larger to smaller, whereas the cutting edge of the second flute varies from smaller to larger.
- 11. The cutting tool of claim 10, wherein the variability of the first flute is different from that of the second flute.
- 12. The cutting tool of claim 1, including three or more flutes indexed from one another, at least one of which has a cutting edge with an angle that varies along its length.
- 13. The cutting tool of claim 12, wherein the flutes have cutting edges with angles that remains constant along their length, but wherein the indexing among the flutes is different.
- 14. The cutting tool of claim 12, wherein the flutes have cutting edges with different angles and the indexing among the flutes is the same.
- 15. The cutting tool of claim 14, wherein the cutting edges of the flutes varies from smaller to larger.
- 16. The cutting tool of claim 15, wherein the variability changes from flute to flute.
- 17. The cutting tool of claim 14, wherein the cutting edges of the flutes varies from larger to smaller.
- 18. The cutting tool of claim 17, wherein the variability changes from flute to flute.
- 19. The cutting tool of claim 12, wherein one or more of the cutting edges of varies from larger to smaller, and one or more of the cutting edges of varies from smaller to larger.
- 20. The cutting tool of claim 19, wherein the variability of at least two of the flutes is different.
- 21. The cutting tool of claim 1, wherein the flute forms part of an end mill, router bit, tap, thread mill, or insertable helical tooling.
- 22. A cutting tool having a shank with a body portion extending from an end to an inception location, comprising:
a plurality of helical flutes, including at least one flute having a cutting edge with an angle that varies along its length, and one or more other flutes, with one or more of the following properties being the same or different as the first flute:
cutting edge variability; change in angle from smaller to larger; and indexing.
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/318,351, filed Sep. 10, 2001, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
60318351 |
Sep 2001 |
US |
Child |
10238457 |
Sep 2002 |
US |