What face mill for GP use?

Hi guys,

I'm just tooling up a new Bridgeport / hardinge 40 taper machine... Looking for a good face mill, and was curious what you guys are running. We mill mostly aluminum, and do a fair bit of carrier work where we need to delete a slab off the back side of it on the second op... I don't need ultra low Ra finishes but I do need it to look spectacular- wiper inserts don't usually work because they leave it too "smeary" looking.

Anyways, what are you guys running? I'm thinking about buying two, one for steel and one for aluminum, so the inserts don't all have to come out of them. I'm currently running a mitsubishi one on our haas and we like it, but we don't like the local mitsubishi distributor, and they rape us on the inserts... I've been running a lot of iscar stuff on the lathe and loving it so I was looking a bit at some of theirs... Their tool adviser points me to this "heli2000" guy- ISCAR Cutting Tools - Metal Working Tools - Iscar Catalog : HM90 F90A-15 ...

Another option is to go with maritool / ultradex- they don't have carbide seats but are so cheap you could just throw em out if they get beat up...

Also, it's a big plus spindle- would it be worth buying a one piece body / holder that is big plus / dual contact? Pretty sure I have seen Kaiser etc advertising those.

Cheers,

Pete

I like the seco quattro mill with ground and polished inserts for aluminum.

Also exkenna's ripper mills work pretty good.

I just got a new ingersol 3 inch 7 flute face mill with octagonal inserts with 16 edges each. I got a pack of al specific inserts and a pack of general purpose inserts. It looks like a nice mill but is limited in doc compaired to the quattro mill. Still havent tried it yet.

Did you get your new mill yet?

For aluminum. Kennametal fix perfect alumunum series in 3" 4" and 5" really can't be beat in my opinion. They are 90 degree and will remove stock... Chip control isn't the greatest if you don't have a decent depth of cut, but they will leave a good looking finish, and inserts are roundabout 12-14 dollars (2 edges). One flip of these inserts can easily fill several decent sized chip bins. If you want really good looking finish you can buy $85 a piece pcd inserts. They will last as long as until you crash it or let it chatter on a thin part. For steel I can't help you....

Edster said:

I like the seco quattro mill with ground and polished inserts for aluminum.

Also exkenna's ripper mills work pretty good.

I just got a new ingersol 3 inch 7 flute face mill with octagonal inserts with 16 edges each. I got a pack of al specific inserts and a pack of general purpose inserts. It looks like a nice mill but is limited in doc compaired to the quattro mill. Still havent tried it yet.

Did you get your new mill yet?

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Been cleaning out the shop to make room for it... It's going to get unloaded on the 11th and hooked up on the 18th. Ready to start making money with it though, my other machine is 8 weeks out or so in work right now. We are a car shop and full to the top right now- gotta finish some stuff this week to make room haha.

Just trying to plan out the 20 or so tools I'm going to leave in it "permanently". Probably 2 face mills, 1/2" 3 flutes in sq, .030, .060, some corner rounders, a spot, chamfer mill, etc. The rest will be room for drills and oddball stuff. Also trying to decide which if any tools to buy big plus holders for, and researching the techniks "dual drive" ones versus the BIG ones etc. I'm thinking it would be nice on the face mill to help get rid of the coining I get on the haas when it starts / exits the cut. I'd imagine this machine will do it a lot less anyways.

My old haas w/o gearbox couldn't crank a "big" face mill at all in steel- on my old 2.5" 4 flute one, I'd get 70-80% load with a small DOC like .060"... So I'm thinking about keeping them fairly small OD. This mill has a lot more torque but still no gearbox.

I would suggest that you go for a 45 degree facemill rather than the 90. The 45 is normally considered the first choice all around because it directs a portion of the cutting forces up the spindle centerline adding rigidity to the equation, whereas the 90 degree tool applies all the force perpendicular to the spindle.

I have several of the Iscar Heli-Octo facemills starting at 1-1/2" up to 4" that work real well, good insert life across a broad variety of metals, and can achieve a very nice finish. They sell a newer variety than the Heli-Octo now, has a slightly different name, but is basically an improvment over the ones I have.

Call up their support number (888-ISCAR88)and they will give you a good recommendation. They are up the highway from me here in Texas, very helpfull people!

peter.blais said:

I've been running a lot of iscar stuff on the lathe and loving it so I was looking a bit at some of theirs... Their tool adviser points me to this "heli2000" guy- ISCAR Cutting Tools - Metal Working Tools - Iscar Catalog : HM90 F90A-15 ...

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If versatility is what you're after IMO he pointed you in the right direction as the ADKT 1505 insert is available in many different radiuses as well as a wiper.

If you can dedicate one tool to aluminum and you like Iscar, go to this - Iscar Catalog : HM90 FAL-16 - 3102772

We have several and love them. Nice finishes, fast metal removal, they work like the ripper mills, and have lots of radii available on the inserts. The inserts last forever.

Mud said:

If you can dedicate one tool to aluminum and you like Iscar, go to this - Iscar Catalog : HM90 FAL-16 - 3102772

We have several and love them. Nice finishes, fast metal removal, they work like the ripper mills, and have lots of radii available on the inserts. The inserts last forever.

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Nice, maybe I'll try one... I'm not opposed to one for Al and one for steel- it'd spare a lot of grief swapping inserts back and forth.

Pete