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SIDE CUTTING EDGE ANGLE (LEAD ANGLE)

Side cutting edge angle and corner angle lower impact load and effect feed force, back force, and chip thickness.

Effects of Side Cutting Edge Angle (Lead Angle) At the same feed rate, increasing side cutting edge angle increases chip contact length and decreases chip thickness. As a result, cutting force is dispersed on a longer cutting edge and tool life is prolonged. Increasing side cutting edge angle increases force a'. Thus, thin, long workpieces suffer from bending in some cases. Increasing side cutting edge angle decreases chip control. Increasing side cutting edge angle decreases chip thickness and increases chip width. Thus, breaking chips is difficult.

When to Decrease Lead Angle Finishing with small depth of cut. Thin, long workpieces. When the machine has poor rigidity.

When to Increase Lead Angle Hard workpieces which produce high cutting temperature. When roughing a thick diameter workpiece. When the machine has high rigidity.