Reid Select End Mills

A ball end mill is a CNC cutting tool with a hemispherical (ball-shaped) cutting end. This allows it to machine complex 3D contours and surfaces, as well as perform profiling, slotting with a radius, pocketing with radiused corners, engraving, and creating fillets. Key advantages include its ability to create intricate shapes and a smooth surface finish. They come in various materials, coatings, flute counts, and sizes to suit different machining needs.

A keyset cutter (or keyseat/keyway cutter) is a specialized end mill designed to cut precise, semi-circular grooves called keyways into shafts or bores. These keyways are used to fit keys for secure torque transmission between rotating parts. They are typically center-cutting with a specific width for a single-pass cut. Common types include Woodruff cutters (for semi-circular keys), straight tooth, and staggered tooth cutters, available in carbide or HSS with various coatings. They are essential for manufacturing and repairing machinery with keyed shafts and hubs.

Roughing end mills, or hog mills, are designed for quickly removing large amounts of material in the initial stages of machining. They feature aggressive tooth geometry (coarse pitch, deep gullets, fewer flutes, often wavy edges) and a strong core for high material removal rates. While efficient for rough shaping, they produce a poor surface finish and lower accuracy, requiring subsequent finishing with other end mills.

Reid Supply has a range of ball end mills, square end mills, corner radius end mills, roughing end mills and more.