Pm727m and face milling

I use the Tormach Superfly and a little Sherline single insert fly cutter (basically a 1-1/8" dia. single insert face mill) and both work well. There is also the B-52 flycutter and the Suburban Tools fly cutter. All will provide good finishes and all can do a surprising amount of stock reduction. Have a look.
 
Mikey, the only one of thoes you mentioned ( the sherline single flute) is in my price range. I love the tormach flycutter but its just to much, especially of my occasional use of the thing.
 
If you have it you will use it, you will wish you had it if you need it. :)
 
Exactly, i need alot of things lol. The interupted cuts of the sherline single flute cutter has me worried if it will make my Z axis walk down?
 
Brad125 said:
Mikey, the only one of thoes you mentioned ( the sherline single flute) is in my price range. I love the tormach flycutter but its just to much, especially of my occasional use of the thing.
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Almost everything we do on the mill starts out as rough stock and has to be squared. There are essentially three ways to do this: fly cut it, face mill it or end mill it. Of these, you will find that a fly cutter, over the long term, will be the cheapest and in many cases, produces a better finish.

Consider also that the Superfly can cut a 6" wide piece of work. Not many fly cutters can do this in one go, and in aluminum it can take at least a 0.070" deep cut and produce a decent finish while doing that 6" piece. Not too bad for what I consider a cheap tool.

The Sherline flycutter will produce a superb finish if you have the speed. I haven't had any issues with Z-axis movement while using it. It, too, can hog off a surprising amount of material for a tool of this size. In addition, it can cut to a square shoulder so you can produce a ledge (the Superfly cannot do this). Of all the carbide fly cutters I have used, the Sherline flycutter produces the best finish. The main downside to it is its small size; it only cuts a 1-1/8" wide swath so you have to make multiple passes on larger parts but it will cut and finish quite well. I actually use it a lot more on my RF-31 than I do on the Sherline mill and if you must have a fly cutter on a budget and can accept its limited cutting width then this tool is not a bad choice.
 
I am loving that tormach super fly? Ugh.... so much for a face mill. You guys are killing me.... how does it preform in steel? Vibrate like heck?
 
Re the Superfly, if your speeds are good it cuts well and doesn't vibrate much. I do have a decent spindle, though.
 
I have 1700or 1750 rpm max, is this enough rmp to utilize the super fly cutter?
 
For steel, sure. Should do okay with aluminum, although the finish is better with more speed.
 
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