Tormach Superfly Cutter On 1hp Machine?

[Groundhog]

I just bought the inserts Tormach sells with the Superfly. As I said above, the inserts sold for aluminum work great. I haven't done much with mild steel (used flood coolant). Results were just OK, but I wasn't trying for anything special so my speeds and feeds were just guesses. I.m sure I could have improved the finish with better machine settings. Haven't done any other materials. Sorry, I'm in a rush so didn't look up the part numbers or specs on the Tormach inserts.

 

[wildo]

Correction- NCM325 is also appropriate for cast iron whereas NCM335 is not. Therefore I actually ordered the NCM325 grade.

Ok- so to recap, the CVD vs PVD would be for moderate temperature chemical vapor deposition vs physical vapor deposition, the former being apparently good for high toughness and surface roughness resistance, and the later being particularly good at high temperature resistance and high speed machining impact resistance. This make sense then than Tormach would have chosen the PVD vs CVD. Perhaps the CVD might be the better option for the home gamer with an older (slower spindle) machine. That means we probably want an insert grade starting with NC.

From there, unless you want a dedicated tool per material type, it seems to me that a universal tool for steel, stainless, and cast is more economical. Therefore we'll want a "5" after the NC. Note that Korloy also has an NCM (as opposed to NC5) type tool. Other than a textual description for the use case (interrupted cuts, etc) it doesn't seem to define the M in the "Indication of Work" column on their grade code. Never the less, NC5xxx or NCMxxx is probably on our radar.

From there, the machining type column. Now I'm sure there is documentation somewhere about this, but as best as I can gather- turning means the work is spinning and milling means the tool is spinning. Perhaps that affects the tool geometry, but I can't find data on this. Since Tormach chose a milling type tool, I can only guess we want a milling type as well. So now we have NC53xx or NCM3xx.

I guess the ISO grade column would depend on the application. The Korloy catalog defines the three insert options up to this point:

I'm guessing that any NC53xx or NCM3xx would be an excellent choice for most machining tasks in the hobby shop, though perhaps the NC5350 or NCM335 might be the best option since a flycutter would naturally see an interrupted cut pretty much constantly. On top of that, the categorization states that higher designation numbers are for slower speeds and heavier feeds.

(And score. There's plenty of NCM335 inserts on ebay.)

 

[Doubleeboy]

I have a super fly, I use Korloy inserts from China on ebay, 2 bucks and insert, same one Mikey uses, I calculated horse power use on a finishing cut, well under half horse, I get a darn near mirror finish in aluminum, using mist coolant, taking a cut of a few thou and feed of 5IPM, The key for me, maybe not others, is tilt your head out of tram just barely and cut so the back side of cutter arc does not touch work, only feed in one direction. Mist coolant helps blow the chips away so you don't drag a chip around scratching your just milled pretty surface. Like most everything branded Tormach its way over priced, but it is a very nice tool, just buy your inserts elsewhere.

 

[cjtoombs]

This is my opinion, so take it at that. I think the reason that Tormach developed the Superfly is that their mill (even the 1100, which I own) is very underpowered at low RPMs. This is due to the properties of the VFD speed control. This is also true of most any variable speed control that changes the motor speed, not the belt ratio. The problem is that if you are cutting steel at a 3" diameter with a HSS tool, you are in a speed range where the Tormach has very little power, and it just doesn't work. They needed a fly cutter with carbide tooling to get the surface speed, and thus the RPM range, up to where their mill has enough power to run it. I believe they also engineered it specifically to have low cutting forces by using heavily raked inserts for the same reason. So low horsepower mills, especially ones that have variable speed and give their power ratings in watts (these are usually input watts, not output horsepower, which depending on RPM will be less than half the direct conversion of wattage to hp) should benefit from the Superfly by allowing you to cut steel (especially harder steels) at the proper cutting speeds. It is less a problem on aluminum, since you can cut it at much higher surface speeds. I have the Superfly and use it on both steel and aluminum, and I like it. I bought my inserts from Ebay for a fraction of what Tormach charges.