An Analytical Design Method for Milling Cutters With Nonconstant Pitch to Increase Stability, Part 2: Application

Abstract

Chatter stability in milling can be improved significantly using variable pitch cutters. The pitch angles can be optimized for certain chatter frequency and spindle speed ranges using the analytical method presented in the first part of this two-part paper. In this part, the improvement of productivity and surface finish are demonstrated in three example applications. It is shown that chatter stability can be improved significantly even at slow cutting speeds by properly designing the pitch angles. A roughing example demonstrates substantially reduced peak milling forces which allows higher material removal rate.