Face Mill V End Mill

I have noted that Shell End Mills and Face mills look the same ...well at least they do to me...

What is the difference ...can any one explain?

A face mill cuts on the end of the cutters
Attachment 146041

A shell mill cuts on the sides of the cutters.
Attachment 146042

An end mill does both but for a smaller area.
Attachment 146040

Usually an endmill has 4 flutes and they are used to cut keyways which are not blind and a shell mill has a lot more cutting edges and is designed to cut a fair amount off and will cut alot better when only cutting with one side than an endmill.

A Shell end mill is basically a facing cutting when used on a horizontal machine

I thought face mills used inserts, either carbide or HSS (in the old days)

Shell end mills are smaller and are all HSS and not used today...

You can get shell end mills that use carbide inserts, the main difference is u use a face mill to take cuts off the face of the job and you would use a shell end mill if the majority of the cutting is on the side of the job as you ca remove more material as the cutting edge is longer.

http://img.directindustry.com/images...mill-35040.jpg

Eskimo

Try this as a reference:


Milling cutter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

mmm
if you ask me the shell end mill doesnt look any different than the face mill

example

Shaw Machinery Web Site

On that page they look the same I would call the shell end mills they have there face mills