Some basic information on Milling:

A milling machine is a machine tool used for the shaping of metal and other solid materials. Its basic form is that of a rotating cutter which rotates about the spindle axis (similar to a drill), and a table to which the workpiece is affixed. In contrast to drilling, where the drill is moved exclusively along its axis, the milling operation involves movement of the rotating cutter sideways as well as 'in and out'. The cutter and workpiece move relative to each other, generating a toolpath along which material is removed. The movement is precisely controlled, usually with slides and leadscrews or analogous technology. Often the movement is achieved by moving the table while the cutter rotates in one place, but regardless of how the parts of the machine slide, the result that matters is the relative motion between cutter and workpiece. Milling machines may be manually operated, mechanically automated, or digitally automated via CNC (computer numerical control).

Milling machines can perform a vast number of operations, some of them with quite complex toolpaths, such as slot cutting, planing, drilling, diesinking, rebating, routing, etc.  Cutting fluid is often pumped to the cutting site to cool and lubricate the cut, and to sluice away the resulting swarf.

There is some degree of standardization of the tooling used with CNC Milling Machines and to a much lesser degree with manual milling machines.

CNC Milling machines will nearly always use SK (or ISO), CAT, BT or HSK tooling. SK tooling is the most common in Europe, while CAT tooling, sometimes called V-Flange Tooling, is the oldest variation and is probably still the most common in the USA. CAT tooling was invented by Caterpillar Inc. of Peoria, Illinois in order to standardize the tooling used on their machinery. CAT tooling comes in a range of sizes designated as CAT-30, CAT-40, CAT-50, etc. The number refers to the Association for Manufacturing Technology (formerly the National Machine Tool Builders Association (NMTB)) Taper size of the tool.

An improvement on CAT Tooling is BT Tooling, which looks very similar and can easily be confused with CAT tooling. Like CAT Tooling, BT Tooling comes in a range of sizes and uses the same NMTB body taper. However, BT tooling is symmetrical about the spindle axis, which CAT tooling is not. This gives BT tooling greater stability and balance at high speeds. One other subtle difference between these two tool holders is the thread used to hold the pull stud. CAT Tooling is all Imperial thread and BT Tooling is all Metric thread. Note that this affects the pull stud only, it does not affect the tool that they can hold, both types of tooling are sold to accept both Imperial and metric sized tools.

SK and HSK tooling, sometimes called "Hollow Shank Tooling", is much more common in Europe where it was invented than it is in the United States. It is claimed that HSK tooling is even better than BT Tooling at high speeds. The holding mechanism for HSK tooling is placed within the (hollow) body of the tool and, as spindle speed increases, it expands, gripping the tool more tightly with increasing spindle speed. There is no pull stud with this type of tooling.

The situation is quite different for manual milling machines - there is little standardization. Newer and larger manual machines usually use NMTB tooling. This tooling is somewhat similar to CAT tooling but requires a drawbar within the milling machine. Furthermore, there are a number of variations with NMTB tooling that make interchangeability troublesome.