[zaebis]

Silly question. I have an end mill with LOC of 1' and OL of 2 1/2'. Cutting diameter and shank are both 1/2. I need to reach 1.1' deep while milling. Can I do it? In other words can I stick part of the shank inside the pocket while milling it?

[Jawbreaker38]

If I may I'd like to give my opinion on this and I'm sure someone will come along and give some better ideas. I do not like the idea of rubbing the shank against the work piece, I've seen this done many times and I came up with a solution. Though it may seem somewhat crude it does work. What I did was grind the shank of the end mill behind the teeth and stick it out of the holder giving the necessary clearance. So, in your case if you need to cut 1.1" deep and have 1" length of cut I'd grind behind the teeth so it wouldn't rub, then give myself 1.2" of stick out. That's why I love reduced shank end mills, no grinding is necessary.

[John Welden]

It's proper to relieve the shank.

You can let it rub but it's not optimal.

[ALLtra Mach]

I would never let a shank rub!
You can relieve the shank, but if you look at your end mill closely you'll see that the very tops of the flutes are not sharpened, be sure to reliev that as well. The relief does not have to be much, .01 is plenty. Do not grind the part that is in your holder, your mill will not run true.

[keebler303]

I could be wrong but I think they may endmills with longer flutes.

Matt