Use these end mills for general purpose work in most material, such as aluminum, brass, bronze, iron, and steel. With curved, side-cutting teeth, they create grooves.

Also known as involute gear cutters, these tools work with a milling machine to create 14½° or 20° pressure angle spur gears. If worn, they can be sharpened and used again.

To select a gear cutter, follow these steps:

1. Determine the pitch of the gear you're cutting. Gear pitch = (No. of Teeth + 2) / OD. Round to the nearest whole number.

2. Select the cutter that matches your gear's pitch and number of teeth.

Use these tools with low-horsepower, manual milling machines. They have clamps for holding inserts that do not have a mounting hole. Replaceable carbide-insert end mills reduce waste and cost in high-volume jobs—when the cutting edges dull, replace the carbide inserts instead of the entire tool. End mills have a square cut style for milling square slots, pockets, and edges. All are noncenter-cutting for operations where the sides of the teeth do most of the work, such as shoulder milling, contouring, and finishing. They cannot be used for plunge cuts.