Machining Tool question

[MosinVirus]

Hello all,

Don't know if such tools/cutters exist... Haven't taken the time to research completely, but...

There are dowel/tenon cutters for wood. Are there endmills that do the same for steel? something that doesn't cut center, but where you can designate the diameter of the pin? I imagine it wouldn't be all that difficult to produce those with a hole running down the center of the tool...

This way when this endmill is plunged into material, it will leave a pin protruding in the center of the blind hole.

So the question is, do these exist and what are they called?
Thank you,


EDIT: Found the closest thing - Hollow mills.

[kcstott]

They do but they are not small. Look for an annular cutter or a hogan bit but be advised the smallest you wil find is 1/2” od

[bridgeport]

Hello all,

Don't know if such tools/cutters exist... Haven't taken the time to research completely, but...

There are dowel/tenon cutters for wood. Are there endmills that do the same for steel? something that doesn't cut center, but where you can designate the diameter of the pin? I imagine it wouldn't be all that difficult to produce those with a hole running down the center of the tool...

This way when this endmill is plunged into material, it will leave a pin protruding in the center of the blind hole.

So the question is, do these exist and what are they called?
Thank you,




EDIT: Found the closest thing - Hollow mills.

In the pre industrial era it was quite common to make sized screw bodies and such by running stock into a cutter plate with a hole sized to the desired finished diameter, thus allowing for the larger head of the screw to be cut off, finished and slotted. Using a hollow mill or some other device to make a dowel pin would be impractical as dowel pins would typically be cut from formed rod rather than milled from stock, and even sized dowel pins of wood are almost always made from stock which is as close to the finished diameter as is possible in most cases.

[MosinVirus]

They do but they are not small. Look for an annular cutter or a hogan bit but be advised the smallest you wil find is 1/2” od

Thank you, I will take a look.

This may be a silly question, but if I were to take a HSS square endmill, fixture it vertical and use a carbide endmill of the needed size to mill out a center hole in the HSS, do you see it working? Obviously I would clean up the inner edges of the cutting faces at the hole.

In the pre industrial era it was quite common to make sized screw bodies and such by running stock into a cutter plate with a hole sized to the desired finished diameter, thus allowing for the larger head of the screw to be cut off, finished and slotted. Using a hollow mill or some other device to make a dowel pin would be impractical as dowel pins would typically be cut from formed rod rather than milled from stock, and even sized dowel pins of wood are almost always made from stock which is as close to the finished diameter as is possible in most cases.

I am not thinking dowels. I am thinking pins protruding from flat surfaces.

[MosinVirus]

Not setup with CNC, don't have a rotary table.

[kcstott]

Thank you, I will take a look.

This may be a silly question, but if I were to take a HSS square endmill, fixture it vertical and use a carbide endmill of the needed size to mill out a center hole in the HSS, do you see it working? Obviously I would clean up the inner edges of the cutting faces at the hole.



I am not thinking dowels. I am thinking pins protruding from flat surfaces.

[MosinVirus]

I see. Thank you.

[G-forceJunkie]

The tool your asking for is called a rotabroach. Its is like you say, a hollow end mill. They are made to have a spring loaded pin run down the center to push the slug out when you drill. THey are sized for the outside hole, not the inside, so if you need a pin a specific size, you may have to find one with a smallenough I.D. then have a grinding shop open the I.D. to your specs.

[ar15barrels]

There are dowel/tenon cutters for wood. Are there endmills that do the same for steel? something that doesn't cut center, but where you can designate the diameter of the pin? I imagine it wouldn't be all that difficult to produce those with a hole running down the center of the tool...

This way when this endmill is plunged into material, it will leave a pin protruding in the center of the blind hole.

Boring head with the boring bar turned around 180 degrees.

[ar15barrels]

I bought a benchtop EDM machine last week and it should have been picked up today by the freight company.

Wanna come spend an hour or two teaching me how to run it?

[ar15barrels]

The tool your asking for is called a rotabroach. Its is like you say, a hollow end mill. They are made to have a spring loaded pin run down the center to push the slug out when you drill. THey are sized for the outside hole, not the inside, so if you need a pin a specific size, you may have to find one with a smallenough I.D. then have a grinding shop open the I.D. to your specs.

I tried using rotabroaches to make a post and I found that they are not ground with proper cutting reliefs inside.
The inside plug that is left after breaking through is normally considered waste.

[MosinVirus]

Thank you all for the suggestions.
I will definitely be spending time looking at all the options in the near future.

[MosinVirus]

A rotary table or an index dividing head is a good investment if you are thinking about getting into manual machining a little more. A rotary table can be had for a reasonable price if you are patient and look for one.

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[theLBC]

[67Cuda]

What are you trying to accomplish?
What size dowel are wanting to produce?

Can't you drill and press a pin to accomplish what you want?
If the material is thin, can you back bore the hole and make a step pin?

Just throwing things out there.