Which facemill(s) to keep?

Hi all,

A while back, i picked up a K&T 2HL vertical mill which came with a 6" carbide insert facemill in the spindle. Over the course of the last couple of months, i now find myself with a total of 3 facemills in the 5-6" range. I'm not sure the pros and cons of each style, and all 3 require new inserts so trying them out will cost a bit of money. Hoping to poll the group, to figure out which one(s) to keep

1) Tungaloy TEN09R600U0200A07, 7x 5-sided inserts, 6", not 90 degrees



2) Sandvik-Coromant ModulMill RA282, 6x triangular inserts, 5", i think this will leave a 90 degree wall



3) Iscar F90LN D6.00-11-2.00-R-N15, 11x funky 4-sided cutters presented to the work on-end. I don't think this leaves a 90 degree wall.





So.... what are the pros and cons of each type? I'm thinking i should keep number (2) for those odd occasions where i need to cut to a 90 degree shoulder, and maybe one of the others. Or do all 3 have a place in the toolbox for different reasons? Does the iscar's unusual attack angle cut significantly better than the more conventional tools?

I'll be using these on a 3hp K&T 2HL without coolant for the most part. I'm doing mostly one off workpieces in steel or cast iron for machine rebuilding/restoration. Do i really need ANY big facemills? No, but since when did that matter? : -p


Thanks in advance,

Lee

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

None of the above if it were mine. The 1H/2HL were never intended for the resulting hammering

Hi John,

Thanks for the advice, but I'm not sure I follow. Wouldn't an 11-insert cutter hammer less than, say, a fly cutter?

I'm still learning the ropes of this mill, and milling machines in general, but i played around with the Tungaloy a few weeks back and it didn't seem to hammer much at all. If i remember right, the limiting factor was the horsepower of the machine (3hp) rather than bearings or table.

Thanks again,

Lee

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

For a non-production, job shop application my choice would always be the cutter that takes the cheapest most readily available inserts and has replaceable components. Of your choices this would be #2. Other criteria such as number of cutting edges per insert and number of inserts per cutter may also enter into the picture if you have to factor in the typical cut depth and width. But to have a cutter that will handle most applications with a low insert cost I would go with #2.

I have to add that I already have this same face mill in 4", 6" and 8" configurations. I use the 4" & 6" on my K&T all the time but do have 20hp to play with.

Walter

Yes and no. Is the flycutter positive rake and are not most cheap insert (Walter's words) face mills no where near positive rake?

The little mills will live longer (especially as they are real old now) if the cutting tool helps out by SHEARING rather than SHOVING the iron off

The "C" came out to address a few of the issues involved (1CH/2CHL)

Some of the larger "C" machines had giant spindle flywheels to take hammering in their stride

leeko said:

Hi John,

Thanks for the advice, but I'm not sure I follow. Wouldn't an 11-insert cutter hammer less than, say, a fly cutter?

I'm still learning the ropes of this mill, and milling machines in general, but i played around with the Tungaloy a few weeks back and it didn't seem to hammer much at all. If i remember right, the limiting factor was the horsepower of the machine (3hp) rather than bearings or table.

Thanks again,

Lee

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Even with a positive rake like the Sandvik-Coromant ModulMill there is still the issue of carbide never really having a sharp cutting edge like the tool steel mills your machine was probably designed for. As John is pointing out a fly cutter, if designed with enough of a positive rake may indeed produce less stress on the machine.

"Hammering" caused by milling can be minimized by switching to a smaller diameter mill when the work piece is narrow, changing the attack angle and using a higher RPM with lighter feed.

Since the original question was which milling cutter should be kept I still think that #2 is the best choice. Since it's also the smallest diameter face mill you might be able to take a decent cut with it. As John is pointing out you really need to consider the ability and health of the machine as well.

Walter

Thanks to both of you for the advice! I'll definitely hold on to the modulmill. I'm tempted to keep hold of the tungaloy too, though, just in case i have a need to skim something a little wider than the 5" modulmill can swing :-) sounds like the iscar would be better off in someone else's toolbox, though.

Thanks again,

Lee

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

This thread has me thinking. I hope the face mills I just picked up will be ok with the 3k I'm about to pick up. I think the largest one is 6". Need to look into the positive rake aspect.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk