Super Fly Alternative - Review

Shars sells a little 2 flute face mill that uses the same inserts as the Super Fly Cutter from Tormach. If you are using TTS still there is a plus right off the bat. It has a 3/4 inch shank. You can a Tormach press on ring and its now a TTS tool.

Its a lot more rigid than the Superfy and has twice the flutes so I can run it quite a bit faster. Of course its also better balanced. I have not done MRR comparisons or even spent a bunch of time punching in numbers on HSM Advisor, but generally it flat removes some material.


I noticed one BIG positive and one BIG negative.

Positive. Due to its solid construction its a lot more rigid than the Super Fly. I can plunge into a well clamped and supported part (with suitable feed) and not get a slightly deeper starting groove in the part. I am not limited to side approaches to get the finish capability of the tool.

Negative. When finishing a part that must for one reason or another remain partially unclamped I get harmonic chatter that does not appear (or is not as bad) when using the SuperFly.

I've had the tool for a while and for very shallow surfacing aluminum I still tend to use the SuperFly, but I find myself reaching for it more and more often. Its also not a particularly expensive tool. I also have one in a toolholder for use on the Hurco mill.

1" 45 Degree End Mill SEHT Insert 3/4'' Shank (shars.com)

Though I do not own the Tormach SuperFly, I want to say that uses HSS as cutter? Personally I prefer carbide inserts, another pro, for me anyway. I'll have to pick one up!

The SuperFly uses SEHT inserts.

Ok...then apple to apples then. I do love the TTS system, but not sure if I want to turn a collar to make the Shars work like one though. For the record I LOVE Shars stuff so that's some motivation. The Tormach (at least mine) is really sensitive to a balanced tool, that's a huge plus for the Shars. I have a shell mill that works great, but the light hum/vibrations keeps me from using unless I have to.

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Originally Posted by Tigster

Ok...then apple to apples then. I do love the TTS system, but not sure if I want to turn a collar to make the Shars work like one though. For the record I LOVE Shars stuff so that's some motivation. The Tormach (at least mine) is really sensitive to a balanced tool, that's a huge plus for the Shars. I have a shell mill that works great, but the light hum/vibrations keeps me from using unless I have to.

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Tormach sells a collar to press onto 3/4 shank tools. I have a few tools that I have used them on. I even put a Tormach collar on a custom tool holder I made once to get it done a little faster.

32432 - TTS Collar: 3/4 in. | Tormach

I think $25 is a bit much for it, but it is made exactly for this application.

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Originally Posted by kstrauss

The SuperFly uses SEHT inserts.

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Yep, and that's the main reason I found the Shars tool. I was looking for other tools that used the same inserts.

I've had good luck with this type collar to create TTS tooling. Mostly I use them on home made dedicated drill holders, but have never had one move on me.

Also one more positive for the fly cutter type tools, with their wide cut path, many of the parts I make are small enough that a single pass covers the entire surface. Hard to beat that look.

Terry


https://www.mcmaster.com/collars/cla...aft-collars-9/

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Originally Posted by MFchief

I've had good luck with this type collar to create TTS tooling. Mostly I use them on home made dedicated drill holders, but have never had one move on me.

Also one more positive for the fly cutter type tools, with their wide cut path, many of the parts I make are small enough that a single pass covers the entire surface. Hard to beat that look.

Terry


https://www.mcmaster.com/collars/cla...aft-collars-9/

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They are certainly cheap enough, and 1215 should be easy enough to machine that you could recess them if you have a lathe.

Those collars don't appear to be balanced and might cause vibration at high spindle RPM. Of course fly cutters are inherently unbalanced and one doesn't run a face mill very fast. Also no ATC groove.

Bob, They are easily machinable, and I have done that, creating the recess similar to the TTS holders.

Kstrauss, you may be correct, I haven't seen anything in the catalog to say they are balanced. But, while the cap screw may not completely offset the metal machined away, it's pretty close. My machine is an 1100, so max rpm I've ever run these at is drilling at 5K, and I have not seen any issues with vibration. I suspect the small diameter and being effectively clamped to the spindle nose helps. LoL YMMV

Terry

Since I pitched the ATC the lack of groove is no big deal, but again... if you have a lathe you can make one. I've made several complete tool holders now on my lathe and use them all the time. TC tappers, endmill holders, long reach end mill holders etc. I've also used the Tormach press on collars to convert some tools to TTS style. My TC tappers aren't so perfect because I made them a little sloppy on purpose, but I get sub half thou runout without trying to hard on the rest. Drill, bore, ream. Do everything important in one setup or use the 4 jaw (or now the SetTru). Balancing on a set of parallels on the granite plate (I do that for surface grinding wheels) is an option, but so far it hasn't really been needed. Not at Tomach 1100S3 speeds. Now on the little 24K machines I only use factory collet chuck tool holders.

I almost forgot... I have also used the collars on a couple shop made tool holders just for speed and expediency. I keep a couple on hand just in case I need to make something quick.