The wear status of a micro-endmill tool may be inferred by monitoring the chip production rate of the tool in operation. Chips may be extracted from a work area, captured on an adhesive surface, imaged, and counted to determine the chip production rate. When the rate of chip production falls, the feed rate of the micro-endmill may be modified to a level suitable for the current state of tool wear. In this manner, costly and inconvenient work stoppages to evaluate the wear status of a tool are eliminated.

The invention relates to a milling cutter (1) comprising a substantially cylindrical tool body (2) and at least one peripheral cutting edge (3) protruding exclusively radially over the tool body (2), to which cutting edge a chip removal space (4) is assigned, wherein at least one section of the chip removal space (4), which is trough-shaped in particular, is provided behind the cutting edge (3), at least in the peripheral direction.

A tool for machining a stacked material workpiece includes a tool body having one or more helical flutes extending to a forward end of the tool body. Each helical flute has a width defined by a first cutting edge and a second edge, a surface of the flute adjacent the first cutting edge facing the forward end of the tool body and a surface of the flute adjacent the second edge facing away from the forward end of the tool body. Each helical flute can include a first portion having a first negative pitch angle and a second portion having a second negative pitch angle different from the first negative pitch angle, the first portion extending from the forward end of the tool body to the second portion. The tool has only negative pitch angles. A method for machining a stacked material is also disclosed.

A milling tool for a dental milling machine comprises a base body (11) with a rotation axis (12). A shank (15) for clamping the milling tool (10) is provided at a first end (13) of the base body (11). A cutting edge (16) is arranged at a second end (14) of the base body (11). A receiving section (17) is provided on the base body (11) between the shank (15) and the cutting edge (16). A blower wheel (20) is arranged on the receiving section (17) of the base body (11). The blower wheel (20) is formed such that, when the milling tool (10) is driven in a direction of rotation (19) provided for chip removal, an air flow (25) is generated by the blower wheel (20) in the direction from the blower wheel (20) toward the cutting edge (16) of the milling tool (10).

A T-slot router bit for simultaneously cutting a T-slot groove into a work piece and withdrawing pieces of cut work piece from the T-slot groove in a single pass. The T-slot router bit includes a shank end, a boring end opposite to the shank end, a shank that extends from the shank end and is adapted to engage with a chuck of a router, a body that extends from the shank to the boring end and defines a T-shaped configuration, a pair of helical flutes of the body that extends between the shank and the boring end, and a pair of cutting edges that extends between the shank and the boring end.