Tormach SuperFly Cutter

[higgite]

Hi Alan,

I’m a little late to the party, but here’s my 2 cents worth.The Superfly will work just fine in a standard 3/4” collet. The TTS collet is designed to let a TTS toolholder butt up to the bottom of the spindle for consistent tool settings. Unless you need that feature and will dedicate a separate TTS toolholder to each tool, you don’t need the TTS collet.

I don’t have a lot of experience with my Superfly and what little I have has all been with aluminum. I find that it leaves sort of a hazy mirror finish. Sort of like a mirror a little out of focus. Pretty much like the video that DanS posted above. The deepest cut that I’ve taken with it so far is .035” and my LMS 5500 wasn’t even breathing hard. I couldn’t tell any difference in finish between that cut and a .005” DOC. Believe the hype about it being a prolific chip generator. It can remove a lot of material in a hurry and deposit the shrapnel in the far reaches of the county.

Tom

 

[ddickey]

If you pause that video at the end and look at the surface finish you can see the waves that I've spoken of in the past. Plus his head is not in tram.
I think Mikey may be on to something with increase DOC.

 

[mikey]

But back to Superfly - does one need the TTS collet? Tormach says their TTS collet is a "R8 collet with modified length allows for mounting all TTS tool holders in R8 taper spindles". My assumption that a 3/4" R8 collet would work well may be false. By the way, my assumption was driven by Little Machine Shop's claim that a 3/4" collet will work but I am now wondering if that is optimum?? Does the flat face on the TTS collet allow the Superfly to butt up to the collet face and assure the maximum insertion of the shank?

Thanks for the kind offer to loan me your Superfly. I only borrow tools from people I don't like! Seriously, I do not ever borrow tools if I can avoid it but your and David's offer are very generous.

Tom is right; the tool will work in a standard R8 collet. However, if Tormach is to be believed, the TTS collet allows the collet to grab the shank of the tool and pull it up so that the base of the tool is also pulled up into contact with the nose of the spindle, thereby increasing rigidity of the tool holder. The concept, if true, results in a more rigidly held tool.

I'm the same way and don't borrow tools so I understand. However, if you change your mind the offer stands.

 

[Alan H.]

Mike, makes sense - Thanks

 

[mikey]

I should mention that the TTS collet is just a regular collet with the domed nose of the collet milled flat. The magic juju isn't in the collet; its in the shape of the base of each tool that goes into the collet. There is a recess machined into the base of the tool holder that allows the nose of the collet to fit inside the recess, while the rim of the tool base contacts the spindle nose. This arrangement prevents the tool from rocking or moving in use. It also transfers the accuracy of the spindle to the tool, which is why I chose to buy one of their ER-32 chucks.

I own a ETM ER-40 chuck and that Tormach TTS ER-32 chuck is just as accurate when used with a good collet and nut. Thing is, the Tormach chuck cost less than $40.00!

It takes just a few seconds to loosen the drawbar, drop the tool holder out and swap in a new one and that tool will be indexed to the spindle nose just like any other TTS tool. Pretty simple method that increases rigidity, accuracy and speed. The only downside to the TTS system is that you're pretty much committed to Chinese tooling unless you make your own. Fortunately, their tools are pretty good.

 

[Doubleeboy]

I get mirror finish with Superfly held in R8 3/4" collet, I made my own flycutter to hold the Superfly bar, nothing special just a plain old holder out of 1020 steel. I use china sourced Korloy inserts for aluminum or steel, its not a multi insert behemoth but in a Bridgeport clone I get good results, in steel I run 2 IPM, aluminum 10 IPM, small depth of cut and what ever RPM is handy. I tend to lean towards too little speed but big enough chips that I do not get smearing. I think the superfly is a great tool, albeit a bit spendy for what it is. Those Korloy inserts rock and are dirt cheap on epay or china. . I have been a seat of the pants guy about speeds and feeds for years, it was very easy for me to get good results quickly with the Superfly.

When I try and dial in a new tool I try and force myself to just change one variable at a time. With flycutters I find the feed is most critical to keep the tool in the cut and not bounce in and out from various forces, kind of like parting on lathe, you need to keep the cutter moving with steady pressure. I kick the head out of square about a thou when flycutting so I don't drag chips around and scratch surface, I like the front of cutter to cut deeper than the backside, giving some clearance, and I like to blow air from behind to make sure it works as planned.

 

[Alan H.]

Double, do you use the same Korloy insert for aluminum and steel or do you have the ground and molded inserts respectively?

EDIT: I reread your post and I believe you use both. BTW, I wonder if Korloy manufactures in China. I believe they are a Korean company but I have wondered about all the Chinese sources for their inserts.

 

[EmilioG]

Why is it so difficult to source Korloy inserts in the USA?
Are these Ebay sellers legit? Is there a known, good seller on Ebay for the Korloy inserts, SEHT for TTS Superfly cutter.
3. Can the carbide SEHT inserts for steel be used on hard steels like O1? ( annealed).

 

[mikey]

Why is it so difficult to source Korloy inserts in the USA?
Are these Ebay sellers legit? Is there a known, good seller on Ebay for the Korloy inserts, SEHT for TTS Superfly cutter.
3. Can the carbide SEHT inserts for steel be used on hard steels like O1? ( annealed).

Can't tell you if the ebay sellers are legit, although I wondered at the same thing. I have Korloy inserts from an ebay seller and it seems to work fine for me on my Superfly. You can buy US made inserts from Carbide Depot (Kennametal) but the cost difference is huge.

I haven't fly cut O-1 yet - sorry, don't know for sure but I suspect it will work fine.

 

[Alan H.]

Here are some side by sides of some ebay bought Korloys compared to the two that came with the Superfly kit from Tormach. They appear legit but who knows?

SEHT's - The insert on the top was the one that came with the Tormach kit and has been used. The color of the coatings are different. However the Tormach website photo matches the ebay ones.




Here's a snippet of the insert from on the Tormach website. Notice the color is the same as the box obtained via ebay. Maybe the kit was supplied with the Kennametal alternative??



Here's the ebay supplied Korloy for Alum and non-ferous. Tormach supplied insert is on left and ebay's on the right. They Look the same.



The inserts have the same little dot (right hand bottom of hole). BTW, there are shadows in this photo that make them appear different but they look to be identical. I just noticed the post office put a chip in the Tormach supplied insert (it's unused).



Thus far I have not used these but by appearance they look to be legit but who knows? The packages say they are made in Korea. I generally have a very deep mistrust of unknown Chinese suppliers but I gave this a shot. The packaging looks legit but I have seen copied packaging from China that was excellent. Guess I will have to do a side by side when the time comes but in the interim I think they are likely okay.