Detailed Explanation of Bucket Side Milling Cutter Machining Process

The manufacturing of bucket side milling cutters is a comprehensive and precise machining process that begins with high-quality alloy steel forging to obtain a dense and pre-formed blank. Forging not only shapes the basic outline of the cutter but, more importantly, refines the grain structure of the steel, laying a solid foundation for its excellent mechanical properties.

Subsequently, the blank enters the critical machining stage. To cope with its extremely high hardness, the machining process is usually divided into different steps before and after heat treatment. Before heat treatment, turning and milling are used for rough machining to efficiently remove most of the allowance and form a geometric shape close to the final size, including the center hole, mounting interface, and preliminary tooth profile. After rough machining is completed, the workpiece will undergo a rigorous heat treatment process, mainly quenching and tempering, to obtain extremely high surface hardness and tough core performance, but this also makes it difficult to cut.

Therefore, the final finishing must be completed using grinding. High-precision CNC grinding machines are used to finely grind the heat-treated tooth tips, tooth sides, and critical mounting surfaces to accurately achieve the dimensional tolerances and surface finish required by the drawings. For some complex tooth shapes or vent holes, special machining methods such as electrical discharge machining (EDM) may also be used for finishing after heat treatment. Each step of the entire processing chain is closely linked, ultimately ensuring that each bucket side milling cutter has an ultra-long service life and reliable operating performance.