Combinatorial deposition, comprising filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) and physical vapor deposition (PVD) magnetron sputtering is employed to deposit molybdenum disulphide (MoS 2 ) and titanium (Ti) thin films onto TiB 2 -coated tool inserts specifically designed for the dry machining of aluminium alloys. Titanium is deposited by FCVA while MoS 2 is magnetron sputtered. The deposition set up allows several compositions of Ti-MoS 2 to be deposited simultaneously, with Ti content ranging between 5 and 96 at. %, and their machining performances to be evaluated. Milling took place using a CNC Vertical Machining Center at a 877 mm/min feed rate. The effect of different coating compositional ratios on the degree of aluminium sticking when a milling insert is used to face mill an Al alloy (SAE 6061) was investigated using a combination of energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. XPS studies suggest that the greater degree of Al sticking on the rake face of the inserts is due to the formation of greater amounts of non-protective Ti-O phases. EDX mapping of the milling inserts after machining reveal that a Ti:MoS 2 ratio of around 0.39 prevents Al from sticking to the tool edges. Since we prevent Al from sticking to the tool surface, the resultant machined surface finish is improved thus validating the machining performance of TiB 2 -coated tools using optimum compositions of Ti:MoS 2 thin film coatings.