# Tormach Super fly



## PT Doc (Nov 28, 2019)

38258 - TTS SuperFly Cutter Kit
					

The TTS SuperFly Cutter(TM) includes: fly cutter body, tool bar, two general purpose carbide inserts, two polished carbide inserts for aluminum machining, insert Screw, wrench and anti-seize




					www.tormach.com
				




this fly cutter is supposed to be quite good. For $145, it should be. I would assume the short shank on this would not preclude it from being used in an Er40 collet chuck or milling chuck on a manual mill? what is the shank diameter of TTS? Thanks


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## Cooter Brown (Nov 28, 2019)

I believe the Shank of the TTS system is .750 diameter and I have seen people run TTS tooling in R8 collets on a Bridgeport.....


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## mikey (Nov 28, 2019)

Yes, 3/4" shank. And yes, it will work in a standard R8 collet or ER-40 collet but it is designed to be more rigid in the TTS R8 collet.

The Superfly is a good tool and worth the cost.


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## RJSakowski (Nov 28, 2019)

You can modify a standard 3/4" R8 collet to work with the TTS system by grinding the face slightly so the outer ring of the Tormach tool makes contact with the spindle face.  If necessary, the spindle face can be trued.  Tormach has a white paper on this subject.


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## PT Doc (Nov 28, 2019)

RJSakowski said:


> You can modify a standard 3/4" R8 collet to work with the TTS system by grinding the face slightly so the outer ring of the Tormach tool makes contact with the spindle face.  If necessary, the spindle face can be trued.  Tormach has a white paper on this subject.



I would be using this in an Er40 collet or milling chuck depending on how things fit. My milling machine takes cat40 tooling. What is the diameter of the super fly face? Thank you.


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## ThinWoodsman (Nov 29, 2019)

mikey said:


> The Superfly is a good tool and worth the cost.



It looks like a pretty standard fly-cutter design (unlike, say, the B-52).
What makes the Super-fly worth the extra cost? The cutting tool (/toolbar) itself? Because those are available for sixty bucks, a much more reasonable investment if you already have a ton of fly cutters lying about.


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## PT Doc (Nov 29, 2019)

ThinWoodsman said:


> It looks like a pretty standard fly-cutter design (unlike, say, the B-52).
> What makes the Super-fly worth the extra cost? The cutting tool (/toolbar) itself? Because those are available for sixty bucks, a much more reasonable investment if you already have a ton of fly cutters lying about.


Good question, I don’t know but maybe those that have them can chime in.  Is the SE** inserts maybe better than what other fly cutters are using? 
I have zero fly cutters. I have a seven insert Techniks 4” facemill that uses SEHT inserts that I have not used yet. 
Seems like the Suburban Tools fly cutters is really stout but really pricey.


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## RJSakowski (Nov 29, 2019)

PT Doc said:


> I would be using this in an Er40 collet or milling chuck depending on how things fit. My milling machine takes cat40 tooling. What is the diameter of the super fly face? Thank you.


I don't use the Super FLy myself.  I have an ancient face mill that uses brazed carbide lathe tool bits. From the Tormach's website, it appears that the cutting circle is between 2.5" and 3".


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## ddickey (Nov 29, 2019)

I bought the tool holder and just made my own. I used it a lot until I acquired more face mills. Now it never gets used.


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## BGHansen (Nov 29, 2019)

Here are some photos of my Tormach Super-Fly.  I bought my Tormach 1100 Series 3 used this past summer.  It came with the shop-made fly cutter in the bottom photo.  The previous owner swore by his fly cutter, but he made it with only about 0.050" clearance between the center and bottom edge of the cutter.  I have on my "list of good intentions" to redo the mount by angling the bottom surface to 15 deg. and recut the slot for the tool holder.  Then a genuine Tormach Super-Fly showed up on eBay for $75 delivered (also an ETS for $75 from the same seller).  

I've used the Tormach Super-Fly on aluminum and Delrin at depth of cuts of 0.020" at something like 400 RPM and a feed rate of 10-20 inches per minute.  It did a very nice job on the surface of the aluminum.  It does a better job than the shop-made fly-cutter that came with the mill, but I'm thinking that could be because of the round insert on that fly cutter.  The insert on the Tormach Super-Fly is pretty much flat to the work, so it's cutting a wider flat path than the round insert which cuts a radiused swipe.

The tool is adjustable within the TTS holder, so you can vary the footprint of the cut.  I have mine at ~3.0" diameter.

There's nothing Earth-shattering about the Tormach cutter.  I'm sure others get great results with other non-Tormach fly cutters.  Like I mentioned, the previous owner of my mill loved his shop-made fly cutter.

Bruce


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## mikey (Nov 29, 2019)

ThinWoodsman said:


> It looks like a pretty standard fly-cutter design (unlike, say, the B-52).
> What makes the Super-fly worth the extra cost? The cutting tool (/toolbar) itself? Because those are available for sixty bucks, a much more reasonable investment if you already have a ton of fly cutters lying about.



If you take a look around, there aren't a lot of decent inserted carbide fly cutters for sale. The Superfly can cut a swath from about 3" out to around 6", which is not a bad range. The tool holder itself is beefy enough and is held rigidly enough by the TTS collet to essentially eliminate chatter, even with heavy cuts. I have taken 0.075" deep passes in aluminum at 1200 rpm on a 6" wide work piece without a hint of chatter, and this is on a mill with only a 1HP Baldor motor. Lighter cuts at higher rpm improve the finish, especially with a climb cut. I usually do 0.020" deep cuts in steel at 400-600 rpm that also leave a very nice finish. The tool uses positive rake cutters that work well enough on my low HP mill and they have a very good service life. I've been using this tool for a few years now and I'm still on the original steel and aluminum cutting inserts. While the finish these inserts leave is not a mirror finish, its close and the surface is flat enough to accurately square a part. So yes, it is a good tool and given what it can do and how it performs its task, yes, it is worth the cost, at least to me.

The one thing this tool does not do is cut to a shoulder. That is where I think the B-52 is better, but the B-52 is a fixed length cutter which I do not like. Can't have everything.


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## ThinWoodsman (Nov 29, 2019)

Just curious. I seem to be a magnet for that style of fly cutter, and must have a half-dozen fly cutter holders in that style.

Might give the Tormach carbide toolbit a go in one of them - sounds like that may be where the magic lies


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