Flat Bottom Fly Cutter

[ericc]

Hi. I recently acquired a fly cutter with a slot which is flat or parallel with the bottom. All of the videos on these deal with the ones whose slots are at an angle so the tool bit points down towards the work. What are the flat bottom ones used for? Form tools like gear cutters?

 

[David VanNorman]

That is what I would say.

 

[Tony Wells]

I have boring bars that look like that. I can't tell the size of your holder, but if it had, say, a 3/4" shank.....it could fit in a boring head.

On the other hand, fly cutters need very little bottom clearance, so you could get there with a little fidgeting with the tool, not allowing it to sit flat in the slot. Or as mentioned, form cutters that are meant to cut on the side rather than the bottom.

 

[pineyfolks]

I've made several like that, all different lengths and diameters that I used as boring heads before I bought an adjustable one. I just slide the tool out and measure the offset.

 

[ericc]

Thank you very much for your answers. I didn't think of a boring head. This sounds like a good use.

 

[kd4gij]

I would say boring also, although you could use a tool like the one on the right in this pic for fly cutting.