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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > Novakon > Looking for a face mill recommendation
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    60

    Looking for a face mill recommendation

    So I am somewhat disappointed in the finish that my Superfly gives me. I make some pretty large parts 10"x10", 6"x20" etc. While the actual surface finish is quite good, I do get very distinct lines on the edge of the tool path. No amount of overlap, IPM, or direction change can seem to remove them entirely. If the parts I were making were only 3" wide, it would be great. I was thinking about looking at a facemill, to see if that behaved any better. Does anyone have any recommendations?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    480
    Quote Originally Posted by WTFover View Post
    So I am somewhat disappointed in the finish that my Superfly gives me. I make some pretty large parts 10"x10", 6"x20" etc. While the actual surface finish is quite good, I do get very distinct lines on the edge of the tool path. No amount of overlap, IPM, or direction change can seem to remove them entirely. If the parts I were making were only 3" wide, it would be great. I was thinking about looking at a facemill, to see if that behaved any better. Does anyone have any recommendations?
    Look at the ripper face mills for aluminum. I was using the 2 inch 4 flute in my torus pro before i got the brother. Beautiful finish. If you can feel the lines though, you will have to work on traming the head of the mill. A different tool won't help.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    359

    Re: Looking for a face mill recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by AUSTINMACHINING View Post
    Look at the ripper face mills for aluminum. I was using the 2 inch 4 flute in my torus pro before i got the brother. Beautiful finish. If you can feel the lines though, you will have to work on traming the head of the mill. A different tool won't help.
    I was going to say the same thing.....tramming. You might be able to change the direction.....if you have head "nod", you can't really adjust that...but you can run your tool path along the Y axis. If your head rotation is perfect, you won't feel any lines.
    Don't have to be too bright to be me

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Posts
    339

    Re: Looking for a face mill recommendation

    OD60mm Facemill + 1(one) SEHT1204 PCD insert + 0.05mm doc finish cut = mirror-like finishes.
    ps. omit using all 4 inserts, just use one.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    60

    Re: Looking for a face mill recommendation

    Thanks to all those suggesting to tram the mill first. When I had done the initial setup, it was slightly less than.001. I haven't really crashed it, but it was about by about .004 along the X travel axis. I was able to dial that in quickly, but Y is .004 out. That's disappointing. Maybe I can get some thin shimstock or an old feeler gauge and stick it in to the bottom (or the top) of where the head swivels X-axis?.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    60

    Re: Looking for a face mill recommendation

    So I will answer my own question, and yes the feeler gauge works. Because of the distance from the quill to the face where the gauge is, I thought it would take something different than what is measured. I started off small, .0015 but that barely made a perceptible difference. I ended up .004 shim to take out .004 of nod. A note to anyone trying this: Get the shim inserted first and get the nod corrected first. I had to loosen up the two bolts fairly far to get enough play to get the shim in easily, and that caused the head to move around quite a bit.


  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    147

    Re: Looking for a face mill recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by WTFover View Post
    So I will answer my own question, and yes the feeler gauge works. Because of the distance from the quill to the face where the gauge is, I thought it would take something different than what is measured. I started off small, .0015 but that barely made a perceptible difference. I ended up .004 shim to take out .004 of nod. A note to anyone trying this: Get the shim inserted first and get the nod corrected first. I had to loosen up the two bolts fairly far to get enough play to get the shim in easily, and that caused the head to move around quite a bit.

    Off topic - but does your Z axis make a wine or resonance sound when rapid up or down? Mine does, but have not had the time to investigate yet.

  8. #8

    Re: Looking for a face mill recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by Jmhx2 View Post
    Off topic - but does your Z axis make a wine or resonance sound when rapid up or down? Mine does, but have not had the time to investigate yet.
    try swapping drivers and see what happens . I've changed a couple since buying mine and they are cheap enough to replace . Otherwise check for loose connections (everywhere) , a while back I scratched my head for days before finding a loose wire and the problem was solved . It was arcing just enough to make the axis move but it didn't sound right and would lose steps

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    60

    Re: Looking for a face mill recommendation

    Mine does not.

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