Have I gone too big?

[Ropata]

So I bid and won this 100mm/4"shell/face mill for a great price. The problem is, It's more than likely way to big for the size of my mill. My mill is 1HP so I had been looking for something around 75mm/3" with a high positive rake but they are hell expensive, so when I seen this I just whacked a cheeky bid on it. Anyone have any experience with this size and type of inserts? I don't really want to use it because it's brand new and if I have to sell I want it to be labelled brand new.

 

[Dabbler]

It should do well in aluminum. not sure about steel with 5 cutters, even with positive rake.

 

[EmilioG]

Mitsubishi. Nice. I'd keep it. It's for steels and aluminum.

 

[Eddyde]

I have a similar one, leaves a mirror finish on aluminum.

 

[richl]

Yea, that will never work... might as well just toss it back in that box any ship it to me.

I've read that some guys just pull some inserts out. Looks like a nice cutter, good score

 

[Groundhog]

If it were me (and I have a 1hp. CNC) I would try to sell it at a profit and buy one that is more suited to your mill. Although if you just need to make light cuts on 4" and larger aluminum it should be great.

 

[Karl_T]

Like others said, you will be able to mill a bit on AL. For steel use it to put a skin cut (maybe 0.005") on a large surface and leave a mirror finish. This will work better going one direction than the other

 

[commoncal]

In my book, bigger is always better........... You could just get a bigger mill...........

 

[Technical Ted]

One thing to consider and ask yourself is how heavy (deep) of a cut do you want to be able to take with your face mill and how fast (spindle RPM) do you want to run the cutter. If you take fairly light cuts at a moderate spindle speed I would think you would be OK with a 4" cutter @ 1HP, but if you want to really hog metal off, I think you would run into trouble.

I would imagine and it seems like I have seen them before, there are charts on-line that give suggested HP for different cutters and metal rate removals. Maybe even the Machinery's Handbook might have some info on the subject. Might be worth checking those two sources...

Ted

 

[Robert LaLonde]

Several people mentioned aluminum. The TiN coated inserts may chip weld in aluminum. I get away with it on my face mill with lots of flood coolant, but only because I haven't gotten around to buying some uncoated inserts. It sends coolant flying though. You wouldn't want to stand in the path or you will get soaked. LOL. Well if the chips don't beat a hole in you first.

As to whether or not you can run it in steel... sure you can. Just not with much feed or depth of cut. Even though you may not be CNCing you can still use a speed feed calculator like FS Wizard to give you an idea where you can be. The problem with your mill is less likely to be horse power than flex so keep the load very low.

Even on my KMB1 (5hp (4hp rated) CNC knee mill) flex is more of an issue than power. Yes, the quill on a 2 ton mill can still flex.