This paper deals with the study on the cutting characteristics in ball-end milling process. First of all, the effects of the geometric cutting conditions such as the cutting speed, feedrates and the path interval on the surface integrity were evaluat-ed by the analytical and the experimental approaches. Secondly, the cutting mechanism model was developed to predict the cutting force accurately. It is possible for the proposed model to predict the shape error, estimate system stability and build the reliable adaptive control system. A large amount of experimental set are performed to show the validities of the proposed theories and to investigate the effect of cutting geometry such as rubbing effects, burr effects and etc.