Flycutter vs. indexable face mill

[Pcmaker]

I have a 2" indexable face mill that uses tpg 322 carbide inserts and I'm thinking of going the fly cutter route. The inserts are a bit expensive compared to a fly cutter which I can just regrind the tool bit when it dulls out.

Can a fly cutter pretty much do all the jobs a face mill can do? Can I do as much depth of cut? What are the downsides?

I'm thinking of making my own fly cutter and use 5/16 HSS blank as the bit. Not sure what route I'm going to take, if I want to make it out of 2 pieces or 1. Largest diameter bar I have is 1 3/4", do you think that's big enough? Maybe use a 1/2" shank or does the shank size matter?

 

[benmychree]

Bottom line, a face mill is more productive.

 

[darkzero]

Fly cutters & facemills aren't the same. You can hog with a facemill (if your mill has enough power & is rigid enough), fly cutters normally can't. Fly cutters generally give a better surface, not that facemills can't. I have both facemills & flycutters. I only use the flycutters when the surface finish is more important & for larger surface coverage in one pass.

Inserts aren't really an issue for me. I have a 2.5" FM 45°, the inserts last me a really long time. I also have a 2" Dorian "recycle cutter" FM that I use the most. It uses the "unused" 100° corners of CCMT/CCGT inserts so the inserts are basically "free".

 

[higgite]

[Newbie] - Face Mill Vs Fly Cutter

Looking at tooling for my PM-727 and getting confused on the differences between a fly cutter and a face mill. It looks like the face mills used to be super expensive, but seem to be readily available now. So is one better than another, or do they have different uses? I don't want to spend...

www.hobby-machinist.com

Tom