[kevperro]

I'm going to buy a face mill... I'm going to buy a face mill.... I'm going to buy a face mill.

I've been looking for the last week and I bit the bullet and bought a rather large 3" 45 deg. cutter. I was looking at fly cutters to do a nice single pass over some 3" bar stock but these fancy face mills attracted my attention due to the better balance and they probably won't be as hard on my spindle.



The Glacern looked really nice but in the end.... I cheaped out and bought this one from Shars. Uses the same inserts and as far as I can tell... same cutting geometry. It was half the price so that was a big motivator.

I'll run some passes and post some video once I'm cutting.

[rowbare]

And just before Glacern released their integral R8 shank facemill... Or are you going to use it with TTS?

[kevperro]

And just before Glacern released their integral R8 shank facemill... Or are you going to use it with TTS?

I'll probably TTS it. I saw the integral R8 holder and Shar had one too. I went this direction because it would give me the flexibility to buy other size cutters and use them with the same R8 holder. I know that the integral one will be a little stiffer but I figure the limiting factor in my setup won't be the tool anyway.

[twocik]

Glacern now makes a shortened R8 shank that fits the TTS ?

[Magnum164]

I considered a Glacern but went with a Maritool. How are you going to TTS that unless you buy a TTS blank and modify it? I had to buy the R8 holder for my Maritool, but could easily machine the end of the TTS blank to accept the threaded screw and drive slots.

[kevperro]

I considered a Glacern but went with a Maritool. How are you going to TTS that unless you buy a TTS blank and modify it? I had to buy the R8 holder for my Maritool, but could easily machine the end of the TTS blank to accept the threaded screw and drive slots.

I bought the R8 shank for now. I figured to TTS it I'd need to do exactly what you suggest. For the moment.... I just want to see if I'm happy with the job it does and if so.... I'll figure out how to TTS it.

[Don Clement]

I considered a Glacern but went with a Maritool. How are you going to TTS that unless you buy a TTS blank and modify it? I had to buy the R8 holder for my Maritool, but could easily machine the end of the TTS blank to accept the threaded screw and drive slots.

I threaded a TTS blank for use with Flynn boring head. Was easy to do. The TTS blank was mounted in a 3/4" 5C collet to machine the threads in the lathe. The TTS blanks are easy to machine.

Don

[Magnum164]

I threaded a TTS blank for use with Flynn boring head. Was easy to do. The TTS blank was mounted in a 3/4" 5C collet to machine the threads in the lathe. The TTS blanks are easy to machine.

Don

I may order a blank and do that then. Would be nice to be able to zero once for that tool as well.

[MichaelHenry]

Wouldn't a face mill on an R-8 arbor zero repeatedly? Seems like the taper on the arbor should snug up the same way each time it is mounted in the spindle. Of course, it's a little time consuming to swap the face mill & R-8 arbor for the 3/4" TTS master collet or vise versa.

Mike

[mactec54]

kevperro

You would not want to use this 3" cutter with the TTS system, stick with the R8 shank

[Don Clement]

Here are pictures of the threaded arbor for a Flynn boring head made from a TTS Machinable Blank ( P/N 30475). http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...nkTTSFlynn.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...blankFlynn.jpg
I also made a slitting saw holder for a 3.5" x0.063" slitting saw from a TTS machinable blank http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...TSblankSaw.jpg
Here is the TTS mounted 3.5"slitting saw in action: http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...t=100_3185.flv
FWIW I would make an arbor from a TTS machinable blank for the 3" face mill but with the caveat of not using it for heavy cuts. The TTS mounted Flynn boring head and 3.5" diameter slitting saw have worked very well for me giving very repeatable tool height . YMMV
Don

[Magnum164]

kevperro

You would not want to use this 3" cutter with the TTS system, stick with the R8 shank

Is there a reason why?

[Magnum164]

Wouldn't a face mill on an R-8 arbor zero repeatedly? Seems like the taper on the arbor should snug up the same way each time it is mounted in the spindle. Of course, it's a little time consuming to swap the face mill & R-8 arbor for the 3/4" TTS master collet or vise versa.

Mike

For me I am thinking more of the the ease of swapping. I would think people could zero R8 systems before the TTS came along. I just hate cranking my spindle up for 30 minutes to replace that R8 collet

[Don Clement]

I just hate cranking my spindle up for 30 minutes to replace that R8 collet

Me too! With the Power draw bar and TTS it's just a push of a button and a very quick change of tools in seconds. Today I am running a batch of about 50 parts with 5 tool changes on each part mounted on the Tormach rotary table for indexing. Without the power draw bar and TTS it would be a PITA to do this job and take way longer with R8 tooling.

Don

[justgary]

And don't forget that you can always use a threadmill to thread that TTS blank right on your mill.

But I don't see a threaded facemill at Shars. I see straight arbor and various shank types, but no threaded arbors. Did I miss some?

I haven't gotten all hung up over TTS repeatability for a facemill (and in fact I still just use a flycutter with a 3/4 shank), because facing something is always a one-off type operation for me. I end up having to touch off Z for each face anyway, so having the Z preset with TTS wouldn't save me time.

Changing collets just to use a facemill would really stink, though.

Regards,

- Just Gary

[mactec54]

Magnum164

Yes a good reason, is when using a solid shank the R8 spindle is only rated for a 2" dia cutter, putting a 3" is stressing the spindle,Can you go bigger, yes You can,but can only do very light cuts like .010 etc, & will have to have a solid shank

The 3" face mill has a 1" mounting hole for a reason, this alone is telling you something a 4" has a 1-1/4" to 1-1/2 mounting hole for a normal face mill

So putting a 3/4" straight shank on a 3" face mill will tell you that a 3/4" R8 collet is not going to hold it very well

I'm sure Tormach will tell you what size face mill you can run with the TTS system safely

[mactec54]

justgary

Yes you did miss something, face mills have drive keys, so you could not screw them on to a holder, that is the reason you could not find one that has a thread in it

[Magnum164]

Magnum164

Yes a good reason, is when using a solid shank the R8 spindle is only rated for a 2" dia cutter, putting a 3" is stressing the spindle,Can you go bigger, yes You can,but can only do very light cuts like .010 etc, & will have to have a solid shank

The 3" face mill has a 1" mounting hole for a reason, this alone is telling you something a 4" has a 1-1/4" to 1-1/2 mounting hole for a normal face mill

So putting a 3/4" straight shank on a 3" face mill will tell you that a 3/4" R8 collet is not going to hold it very well

I'm sure Tormach will tell you what size face mill you can run with the TTS system safely

Actually I did look at the TTS as compared to the R8 that the tool is mounted on. I have to agree with you in a way, it would not look as strong of a joint with the smaller TTS. I only plan on using mine for very light cuts anyway so it should not be a problem.

[MichaelHenry]

Me too! With the Power draw bar and TTS it's just a push of a button and a very quick change of tools in seconds. Today I am running a batch of about 50 parts with 5 tool changes on each part mounted on the Tormach rotary table for indexing. Without the power draw bar and TTS it would be a PITA to do this job and take way longer with R8 tooling.

Don

Lately I've been running multiple parts with 8 tool changes per part and that power drawbar is beginning to look a lot more attractive than it did with simpler parts.

Can you remove the master collet completely from the spindle with the power drawbar? I'm wondering if it will unscrew the draw bar far enough to release the collet.

Mike

[Don Clement]

Lately I've been running multiple parts with 8 tool changes per part and that power drawbar is beginning to look a lot more attractive than it did with simpler parts.

Can you remove the master collet completely from the spindle with the power drawbar? I'm wondering if it will unscrew the draw bar far enough to release the collet.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Yes, with the power draw bar one can remove the master collet and then use R8 tooling.
BTW here is a video showing the part machined using 5 tool changes using the Power draw bar. http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...t=100_3625.flv