[dbrija]

I'm planning a Tormach PCNC1100 purchase early next year, so I have been tool shopping for vises, calipers, etc.... and one item I am undecided on is a good face mill. I like the TTS system, and will likely start off with the CNC set, but the 1.5" face mill seems a bit spendy when compared with some of the offerings from say, Shars.

The last face mill I used was 10 years ago, and was a 5" Kennametal unit in a 20 horse cat 50 spindle.

What are the practical limits with a 2HP R8? Is a 2.5" too much tool for the Tormach?

Danny Brija

[Don Clement]

I don't use face mills.

[Mel White]

From my experience a face mill carbide or Hi speed requires more HP than you will have on your machine. Fly cutter heads are available at a cheap price and the tool bits that you use are also inexpensive. These give you a beautiful finish and will work well on your machine. If you want to make your own you can put two tools staggered so one does the rough cut and the following tool takes a minimal cut. These work great. I have an old fly cutter head that I have used for many years 6" diameter with R8.

Mel White

[rwexec]

I have a 1.5" seco nano turbo that has eight XOMX 06 inserts and that has worked well.I had to turn the shank.
I have recently purchased a 1" Micro100 tool it has a .7500" shank and it works fantastic.It also has a long body to it.
It uses four APKT 10 inserts in many grades and I use APCR IC28 inserts for aluminum.My inserts are ISCAR.
I also have the same tool in 3/8" and 1/2" diameters and it has cut down on using solid carbides greatly.
The machine handles it with no issue's.
I do not go over .06" cuts and 65% stepover with light feedrates.
I plan to try one (3/8") with a .125 rad insert for profiling to see how it does.
If your just going to use it for facing and no square shoulders get one with a 45 degree lead, you will get long life from your inserts.
Thats all from the garage.
Cheers

[levelzero]

I used to use a cheap r8 3 insert face mill with medium results. I recently got the tts face mill and could not be happier. I used to avoid using my face mill as it was too difficult to figure out the right tool offset mid program. I would just do my facing operations with a 0.500" 4 flute. Being TTS the new face mill was a simple addition to my regular tool table and the first set of feeds/speeds I went with worked flawlessly.

I realize this is more the inserts then the holder but the combination of being part of the TTS, as well as the great choice of inserts make it a tool I don't regret buying. As a result I am looking at more of the TTS modular tools. My tooling supplier is good, but tormach knows these machines best and time and time again show that they put a lot of time and research into making sure their customers money is well spent.

[Tormachmaster]

From my experience a face mill carbide or Hi speed requires more HP than you will have on your machine. Fly cutter heads are available at a cheap price and the tool bits that you use are also inexpensive. These give you a beautiful finish and will work well on your machine. If you want to make your own you can put two tools staggered so one does the rough cut and the following tool takes a minimal cut. These work great. I have an old fly cutter head that I have used for many years 6" diameter with R8.

Mel White

No not true I use a 3" face mill it depends on the type of insert and it does a great job a real great job you can get a cheap insert r8 face mill off ebay that will do just fine and yes the machine has plenty of power for it. SS 17-4 .05 2.5" wide pass at 750rpm slow feed does super nice finish yes fly cutters do a good job I just dont like them for something I need to have a certain height for.


NEW 3" 45 DEGREE INDEXABLE FACEMILL W/10 INSERTS - eBay (item 390269406591 end time Dec-12-10 17:54:28 PST)


something like this except I use the r8 holder and all the 45 degree works great and yes I use this all the time at work and at home in my shop and at work I have tried alot of tooling very nice budget and still find the 45 degree inserts do a better job at lasting on hard metals I machine alot of hardened 17-4 ss they just flat out work great. I dont know if something like this will work on the tts tooling or not?

[Magnum164]

I am using a 3" FM as well and that is on a 770. I can generally face most parts with one pass. I don't take large cuts with this so should not hurt the machine. Expensive, but creates some very nice finishes as well.

Square Insert Shell Mill 45deg X 3.15 dia MariTool

[concombrefrais]

Has anyone tried the type with triangular inserts? These are attractive because the inserts are cheap and available, but I have a feeling they don't cut has nicely. Here is a link to the type I mean:
2" 90º INDEXABLE FACE SHELL MILL CUTTER TPKN INSERT NEW - eBay (item 350256348996 end time Dec-17-10 10:34:30 PST)

[MichaelHenry]

I bought a 3" Glacern face mill during one of their sales and get nearly a mirror finish on aluminum. It usually sees pretty modest cut depths (<= 0.025" ) and feeds (<= 10 ipm). In aluminum, that amounts to less than 0.3 HP so it doesn't overload the spindle motor.

Mike

[dbrija]

Thanks all for the replies.

I had forgotten about Maritool. I like that 80mm mill, and the price is pretty reasonable. Glacern has some nice mills, but Shars or Maritool are priced much lower. I was going to limit myself to 2.5"max, but looks like 3" would be OK.

[jakemestre]

Here's an idea. Why don't you try making one yourself? I mean this in the most positive sense. It's a great project to use 3d toolpaths, a little lathe work, indexing, etc and the reward is a sweet tool you made yourself. Integrate a TTS shank to 4-5 fluted indexable facemill of your choosing to the size of your choice. You might even do a couple of statics equations to see if you're going to pull the tool out of the holder at 2hp. There's a reason the Tormach facemill has such a small diameter with the TTS. Good luck.

[rwexec]

Here's an idea. Why don't you try making one yourself?

Concentricity is the first thing to come to my mind.
Pay for a good quality cutter.
Not saying you wouldn't be succesful.

[Magnum164]

Concentricity is the first thing to come to my mind.
Pay for a good quality cutter.
Not saying you wouldn't be succesful.

Yep. Not only that for something as large as the Maritool I have you want to make sure it is balanced more than anything to keep it from shaking the machine to death. It can be done, but not sure I would want to do it.

[dbrija]

Here's an idea. Why don't you try making one yourself? I mean this in the most positive sense. It's a great project to use 3d toolpaths, a little lathe work, indexing, etc and the reward is a sweet tool you made yourself. Integrate a TTS shank to 4-5 fluted indexable facemill of your choosing to the size of your choice. You might even do a couple of statics equations to see if you're going to pull the tool out of the holder at 2hp. There's a reason the Tormach facemill has such a small diameter with the TTS. Good luck.

Taken 100% in a positive way. I'm certainly not adverse to that idea. Years ago, I designed a 6", 8 insert with Pro-E. Never had time to actually machine it out though.... Even had the toolpaths done. I was looking forward to that.

Only real issue today is that I don't have a lathe (yet anyway). I'm just getting my home shop off the ground with basics like a compressor, bandsaw, etc... and as it stands, I only have half a garage (my wife will cling to the other half at all costs) so space is getting a bit tight. At this point, I need to assemble a basic set of tools, so I'll be purchasing this one. In the future though, I'll take the home grown path where it makes sense.

[Magnum164]

(my wife will cling to the other half at all costs) so space is getting a bit tight. At this point, I need to assemble a basic set of tools, so I'll be purchasing this one. In the future though, I'll take the home grown path where it makes sense.

Yea. My wife told me if I put one more piece of machinery in the garage she was going to leave me.

You know, sometimes I actually miss her:wee:

[twocik]

I own the Tormach face mill and I've buzzed pretty deep & fast with no problems at all. However a friend of mine has the Glacern 45 face mill and loves it, almost a perfect finish every time on aluminum. Now the tormach is a 90° FM not 45° which I'm guessing will catch more often. I've wanted to give this tool a shot, but haven't had time to figure the mounting. I even bought a TTS blank to machine once I've decided.

Micheal do you have a picture of it mounted to a TTS holder ? I'd like to know what you used to mount it.

[MichaelHenry]

Thanks all for the replies.

I had forgotten about Maritool. I like that 80mm mill, and the price is pretty reasonable. Glacern has some nice mills, but Shars or Maritool are priced much lower. I was going to limit myself to 2.5"max, but looks like 3" would be OK.

The stuff I've bought from Maritool all seems to be of good, maybe excellent quality, but several items bought from Shars have had problems. The Glacern face mill seems much better made than Shars but then maybe that's why it costs more. I've never seen a Maritool face mill so can't comment about that. I do suspect that the quality of the inserts will determine a lot of the performance. Glacern sells name brand, does Shars?

Mike

[MichaelHenry]

Micheal do you have a picture of it mounted to a TTS holder ? I'd like to know what you used to mount it.

I'm using it with an integrated R-8 shank so there's no way to TTS it. Since the shank is integrated, however, I'd guess that it would repeat tool length pretty accurately. I've never needed to test that though.

Mike

[kevperro]

I have a 3" model with the R8 holder. It uses the Korloy SEHT inserts like the Glacern and it gives incredible results in 6061 aluminum. Perfect finish....

I'm going to sell it and get a smaller one though with the 3/4" shaft so I can use it without removing the R8 collet.

[dbrija]

I have a 3" model with the R8 holder. It uses the Korloy SEHT inserts like the Glacern and it gives incredible results in 6061 aluminum. Perfect finish....

I'm going to sell it and get a smaller one though with the 3/4" shaft so I can use it without removing the R8 collet.

I ended up buying the Glacern FM45 (2.5") with the 3/4" shaft, and a Shars 1' - 3/4 arbor. I need to cut down the shaft length as its way too long for the TTS setup, and install the TTS conversion. I ordered the Korloy inserts for it. Glad to hear they make a nice finish.

In all the excitement of getting my mill ordered and getting things ready, I neglected one important thing. Material to mill