Helical blade milling cutter

Claim 1

A helical blade milling cutter comprising: a. a tool body having a longitudinal axis, a plurality of spirally aligned holding slots formed equidistantly in the tool body periphery, and a plurality of fluted sections formed adjacent corresponding holding slots; b. a row of at least two retaining sockets formed in each fluted section with the sockets opening into a corresponding holding slot, each socket having an outer enlarged diameter bore and an inner smaller tapped bore, c. multiple helical shaped cutter blades inserted in corresponding holding slots, each blade being configured so that any any point along its end-to-end length a straight line oriented perpendicular to the blade top edge and laying across the blade cutting face will intersect the tool body longitudinal axis, and, d. clamps arranged in each retaining socket, each clamp including: d 1. a cylindrically shaped block formed with a centrally extending threaded opening and a wedge shaped face characterized by a pair of tapered locking ribs separated by a shallow recess, d 2. an adjustment element whose axis intersects the tool body longitudinal axis, the adjustment element being constituted by a double threaded screw having a top section with threads oriented in one direction for engagement with the block threaded opening, and, a lower section with threads oriented in the opposite direction for engagement with the socket tapped bore, the adjustment element being positioned to simultaneously force the block into its socket and urge the locking ribs into tight clamping two-point engagement against the associated blade; e. a clamp-blade angle defined by each adjustment element axis and intersecting straight line associated with an adjacent blade segment is between 7* and 15*, and, f. the angle defined by one locking rib with The axis of its associated adjustment element is slightly greater than the clamp-blade angle, and, the angle defined by the other locking rib with the axis of its associated adjustment element is slightly less than the clamp-blade angle so that improved twoline contact may be established against the blade, wherein by arranging the axes of adjustment elements and said straight lines passing through the blade cutting faces to mutually intersect at the tool body longitudinal axis, improved stability of the overall helical blade milling cutter is achieved.