Drill mills for precision milling applications are very common and actually fairly useful for a wide number of jobs. From the name it might sound like their main practical use is for drilling a hole through a surface, and they certainly can be used to do so. At the same time, however, they can be used to perform a great number of other tasks.

Typically found with points of 60 or 90 degrees, drill mills can be used to drill a hole, which is a necessary function of a drill mill. Drill mills can also be used to side mill a groove or to do profiling work. On top of drilling holes through a medium, drill mills can also be used to spot, chamfer and profile material, to name a few other functions.

The process of spotting is something in line with its name. It is a way to create a ‘spot’ on the surface that is going to be machined. The reason for spotting is to create a divot in a material that will serve as a sort of guide for the mill that will subsequently be used to machine a surface. Without a spot, a mill has a greater chance of walking along a surface or of being damaged. Spotting must always produce a divot with a greater angle (or the same angle) as the next bit to be used, or the next bit may be damaged.

Precision milling can leave very sharp edges on the materials that are machined. As a result, many machinists will chamfer a hole in order to soften out the sharp edges, or even to produce a countersink. At its most basic, chamfering is the process of creating a soft sided slope around the circumference of a drilled incision. That has the first function of removing any remaining burrs or sharp edges, and the second of producing a countersink, if one is needed.

Some drill mills are suitable for profiling as well. Profiling is, as the name sounds, removing a profiled shape from a material, or cutting it to shape. It is a rough process but it results in the desired shape to be machined into or from a material such as aluminum stock.

Solid carbide drill mills are often found in uncoated and coated varieties. For example, some carbide drill mills are coated in TiAlN, or titanium aluminum nitride. This coating forms a protective aluminum oxide layer during use that reflects heat back into the chips that are milled away, protecting the mill and the piece being worked.

If you need drill mills or other cutting tools for any of these or other applications, be sure to visit OnlineCarbide.com. Online Carbide offers coated and uncoated drill mills along with end mills, thread mills, chamfer and spot mills and more for your precision milling applications. Best of all, their prices are nearly impossible to beat and their mills are all made right here in the United States. If high quality and low prices for the best available drill mills are two prerequisites for you, then visit OnlineCarbide.com today.