[PROGRAMERDAVE]

I HAVE A REPEAT JOB COMING UP THAT INVOLVES FACING THE TOP OF A 3" WIDE BLOCK OF O-1 TOOLSTEEL. THE LAST TIME I RAN THIS I USED A 5/8 ENDMILL TAKING MULTIPLE PASSES (WHICH TOOK FOREVER). THAT WAS FINE AT THE TIME, BUT NOW I'M TWICE AS BUSY AND NEED THIS MACHINE FREE.

I'M PLANNING ON BUYING A FACEMILL, BUT WAS CURIOUS AS TO WHAT OTHER USERS HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL WITH.

IM ONLY TAKING A .030 DOC ON THIS JOB, BUT WOULD ALSO BE USING THIS TO HOG DOWN GUMMY, COPPER CASTINGS. ANY SUGGESTIONS?

[CJH]

I use a 2" dia. face mill in our TM-1. Mailnly facing aluminum. We got ours as part of the Kenemetal start up package. Haven't machined any tool steel with it. If you are planning on using any type of coolant though it makes a heck of a mess.

CJH.

[PROGRAMERDAVE]

TELL ME ABOUT IT! FORTUNATELY I RIGGED UP A SHOWER CURTAIN (LITERALLY) THAT DRAPES IN FRONT OF THE WORK AREA AND OVER THE TOP OF THE CONTROL. MAKES ME LAUGH EVERY TIME I WALK UP TO IT, BUT HEY WHATEVER GETS THE JOB DONE RIGHT. IVE ACTUALLY DESIGNED UP A FULL ENCLOSURE TO PUT AROUND IT, JUST LIKE HOW THEY OFFER ON THE NEW MACHINES, BUT JUST HAVEN'T HAD THE TIME TO START THE PROJECT.

[christinandavid]

Use 3" or 80mm Face Mill with 45deg approach if your machine can take it.

I have run an Interact 4 that had a perspex guard on a hinged frame that slid into the T-slots. Don't know if it was home-made or not, but it worked very well.

DP

[KevinWilkins]

ABOUT THE LARGEST FACEMILL YOU WANT TO TRY – wait a minute, why am I shouting?? – Let's try again: About the largest facemill you want to try would be 63mm and 50mm is more like it. You will only be able to take a very light cut in toolsteel and will need to be sure and use a facemill with appropriate inserts that cut and don't rub.

[behindpropeller]

Foe some reason I have 1200RPM as the peak torque for the TM series. Can anybody confirm this?

Thanks

Tim

[Haas__man]

Here is the Torque chart for TM series.

[behindpropeller]

Here is the Torque chart for TM series.

Attachment 107056

HAASman.... Thanks but I can't open it???

Tim

[Haas__man]

I had problems uploading - try this zipped file instead.
TMtorc.zip

[pit202]

I use 63mm face mill for steels at 1.5-2.5mm max depth , and 80mm for alu

[PROGRAMERDAVE]

THANKS FOR THE FEED BACK! N SORRY FOR THE CAPS (BASTARD KEYBOARD).

IVE GOT MY EYE ON AN INGERSOLL CUTTER THATS IN THEIR SALE PROCHURE. IF YOU BY 50 INSERTS, YOU GET THE BODY FREE. I FIGURED THIS WOULD END UP BEING THE SAME PRICE AS JUST BUYING THE BODY WITH JUST A COUPLE OF INSERTS.

http://www.ingersoll-imc.com/en/prod...08-1_S-MAX.pdf

ITS A 4.00 IN, 45 DEGREE, TANGENTIAL STYLE CUTTER WITH 6 INSERTS. I KNOW 4.00 IN IS PROBABLY IMPOSSIBLE TO PUSH AT FULL CONTACT ON THE TM, BUT WITH IT BEING 45 DEGREES, THE CUTTING DIA FOR SKIMMING THE FACE OF A PART WILL DROP DOWN TO ABOUT 3.25 INCH.

DO YOU GUYS THINK IM GUNNA BE SITTING ON A 4.00 PAPER WEIGHT IN THE END, OR SHOULD THIS MACHINE BE ABLE TO ACCOMODATE TO MY APPLICATION.

[KevinWilkins]

I went to one of Ingersoll's day-long machining seminars here in Germany recently and it was very informative. Ingersoll makes excellent tooling AND they have excellent customer service. Why don't you call their applications engineers and ask them before you buy? I'm sure they can also suggest a facemill from their catalog that will be ideal for your job.

Personally, I think trying to use a 200mm face mill on a machine with a direct drive spindle with only 7.5 Kw is asking for trouble – and disappointment.

[Geof]

.....Personally, I think trying to use a 200mm face mill on a machine with a direct drive spindle with only 7.5 Kw is asking for trouble – and disappointment.

I agree. Figure out the rpm you would need to use, you will be well below 1200 which is the rpm for maximum torque.

[pit202]

In my opinion 63mm is the maximum choice for toolroom , at 250m/min you`ll get about the 1200RPM witch is the best for that spindle , my 63mm was occasional, now when I had to choice I will go for 50mm.

[rickyt]

I use a 2.5" five insert face mill, .04-.06 depth, full width in 303 stainless. 525-625rpm 7.0-8.5ipm.

[PROGRAMERDAVE]

I use a 2.5" five insert face mill, .04-.06 depth, full width in 303 stainless. 525-625rpm 7.0-8.5ipm.

THAT'S GREAT TO HEAR!! DOES THE SPINDLE SOUND LIKE ITS HAVE A HARD TIME DURING THIS? ALSO, ARE YOU AIR COOLING OR FLOOD COOLING?

[rickyt]

The spindle load is around 40-50%, using coolant, I could go faster but it tends to start showing its lack of stiffness and you start getting chatter in the cut. It is a toolroom mill to begin with, but you can make some chips fly and make some nice parts.

[Donkey Hotey]

I think you're going to have a number of problems that others have already touched on:

At 4", you're going to be pushing a lot of SFM for tool steel. Without a gearbox, I don't think that spindle is going to be very happy turning low RPM. 200 SFM = 763 RPM. If it has to be run closer to 100 SFM, you're looking at 380 RPM. There is no torque at those speeds.

With that large of a cutter and that much contact, I'd worry about the casting flexing and allowing the cutter to start walking in small orbits (digging into the material). Of course, this is even if the spindle can turn it without stalling (much worse).

4" will probably exceed your side clearance on the carousel. I think that Haas doesn't recommend anything larger than 3.5". With the umbrella, you don't have to worry about a different tool getting staged next to it (if it fits when you install it, it will not cause a problem). Despite that, tool-to-tool clearance could be tight.

I'd stick to 2-3" as a max. If it were me, I'd err on the side of 2" (smaller diameter, easier on the spindle, lower SFM).