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Carbide Insert Facing End Mills - Which one to get ????

What RPM are you running it at David_R8? My 2.5" face mill likes to run at 2,000-2,500RPM on my Knee mill and will give a beautiful finish like glass. Mind you its a Korloy with Kenametal inserts in it.
 
Rotaxxx said:
What RPM are you running it at David_R8? My 2.5" face mill likes to run at 2,000-2,500RPM on my Knee mill and will give a beautiful finish like glass. Mind you its a Korloy with Kenametal inserts in it.
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I honestly don't know as I didn't check the belt setting on the machine.
I do know it wasn't anywhere near 2000 rpm.
 
Got an Amazon gift card for x-mas so I splurged on one of these.... ordered on the 27th, delivered on the 29th:p

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00HQMXSM2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

FINISH.JPG


Leaves an almost mirror finish on aluminium (left). Not so much on mild steel (right), but not bad.

2" doesn't appear to cause the mill to labour at all. Sure doesn't sling swarf all over like a fly cutter does:D

What's the trick for eliminating that pass overlap seam (right).

So why doesn't this chart https://littlemachineshop.com/Reference/CuttingSpeeds.php differentiate between HSS and carbide when it comes to milling speeds while it does for turning?
 
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I have been using the 3 triangle insert 3”, the 4 rectangle insert 2” and have a standard hss fly cutter, on my mini and they all work fine, better with belt drive and again better with stronger motor. The line “parting line” likely won’t ever vanish completely but if it does weld the head solid because it’s dialed perfectly.
 
oh And on the multi flute you can simply not use 2 or 3 of the spaces if you are not feeding or cutting to heavy, leaves a nice flycut finish on a stable platform with just one insert
 
YYCHobbyMachinist said:
Got an Amazon....

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00HQMXSM2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Leaves an almost mirror finish on aluminium (left). Not so much on mild steel (right), but not bad.

2" doesn't appear to cause the mill to labour at all. Sure doesn't sling swarf all over like a fly cutter does:D
Click to expand...

I was reading through this thread because I was struggling with some facing the other day. As mentioned when I joined this fine group, I am getting back to using my equipment, but have never actually used it much anyways so I have very little experience, spread out over many years. I was trying to clean up some old rusty 1" bar to make some tool holders for a Quick Change Tool Post and because I had so much vibration, I tried every cutter I had.

One that I have is the 1.25" version of the one quoted above. I also tried a fly cutter and an end mill. I think I have settled in that I was trying to be too aggressive with my cut depth. I was going really slow.

So for those with smaller mills, (I have this one http://www.mini-lathe.com/X3_mill/X3rvw/X3.htm ), what kind of speeds would you use and depth of cut? I think I tried .010 at first but that seemed too much so down to .005 DOC.

Here is what I was experimenting with. I did vary up and down but bottom line, I felt disappointed that I had to go so slow.

Fly cutter set at a radius of 1" with high speed steel cutter 700 RPM
Insert face mill (1.25") 1500 RPM
High speed steel endmill (1/2") 400-900

I then began looking into slop, found a very minimal amount in the X axis. I did lock off the Z axis. I think this week I am going to tear it down, clean it all up, adjust and try some more but I am wondering if I am expecting too much from the machine? I guess my biggest concern is typical depth of cut that you all are using, for comparable sized machines.

After reading this thread, and seeing all the web links, I am ready to go buy some more, but if the cutter is not the problem, that won't help.

Thanks
Shawn
 
I can easily hog off .030 of hot rolled steel with my 2.5" face mill running 2000RPM I could probably go to .040 but don't want to push my luck too much! That little mill will have rigidity problems, not to mention the lack of H.P. to run a good sized face mill with carbide inserts, with saying that you would think that .005 DOC shouldn't be a problem. How fast were you feeding the work into it? Were you climb milling with it? When was the last time you checked the tram of you mill? Sometimes using face mills if your out of tram they can do funny things. Just a couple of ideas to look into.
 
.010 -.015 DOC is all you can expect from that x2 in steel, I have one with a few upgrades but first and foremost, most importantly to properly set the gibs, then your work will not chatter as much. The head is particularly difficult but once set then things start to do well. Also proper tool speed is important a flow chart can be found online. Also of note, rust and scale are particularly hard on all machines and cutters, try not to use it without de scaling first
 
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