Does she have the power?

Hello everyone.

I just negotiated a couple of free face mills from my companies supplier.

I'll link the mills below. One is a 3", 9 flute. The other is a 2", 7 flute. I'm aware these mills were intended for machining centers.

Anywho, Will the standard ol prototrak bridgeport clone have enough ass for these? Material is soft A2/D2, occasionally 4140.

by my calculations using 310SFM and a .004" chip load;
the 3" will run at ~400RPM@14IPM. 400mm/m for the continental types.
the 2" will run at [email protected]. 420mm/m.

That sounds like alot of action for the machine. Is it recommended to run at the high end of low gear? Don't want to ask for a batch of inserts after the first attempt lol.

all advice appreciated. Just an apprentice doing apprentice things.

Many thanks

2"
Mitsubishi Materials Web Catalog
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Products Information
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Face Cutter
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APX3000-A_INCH
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APX3000R0207A

3"
Mitsubishi Materials Web Catalog
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Products Information
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Face Cutter
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APX3000-A_INCH
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APX3000R0309A

IMHO there a bit fine tooth count wise, i like a SEHT 2" has 4 inserts 3" one has 5 inserts if i remember right. IMHO you kinda have more inserts cutting than you need - can power with thoes. I will say my Bridgeport does well with the 2" one in steel, they really shift some metal and are very free cutting. Can take a fair depth of cut and wind the feed on, lower end of high gear works prety nice. That said i don't do much alloy steels with thoes, its normally plane 3b mild steel, but they sure eat it up!

Never had as much luck with a square face mill on the Bridgeport, kinda find they beat the snot out of the little girl. I do use APKT inserts though a fair bit, but even then you don't get to go at all deep with them on a Bridgeport.

generaly i use my 3" and bigger still 80mm 45 degree lead angle cutters for faceing non ferrous stuff, were its fair to say they realy eat it up, they make a great snow storm in pretty much any white plastic going!

Thanks for the reply! I agree the there is alot of cutting edges. My experience in tool variations is very limited.

They were free to me, so even if they aren't practical, they're still beautiful toolbox ornaments

I suppose I'll just give them a go and try not to turn too many heads lol

If the cutting edge is too many, what about removing a few inserts to reduce its cutting edge and therefore HP requirement?

taiwanluthiers said:

If the cutting edge is too many, what about removing a few inserts to reduce its cutting edge and therefore HP requirement?

Click to expand...

I was going to suggest this, I've certainly done it myself when I ran low on inserts or had a damaged pocket or insert seat? (forgot what the carbide pad under the insert was called lol). I've also seen a large facemill run with only one insert and a simple lead weight opposite for balance to give the effect of a flycutter for finishing reasons.

Winterfalke said:

I was going to suggest this, I've certainly done it myself when I ran low on inserts or had a damaged pocket or insert seat? (forgot what the carbide pad under the insert was called lol). I've also seen a large facemill run with only one insert and a simple lead weight opposite for balance to give the effect of a flycutter for finishing reasons.

Click to expand...

I believe that's called the anvil.