Hi Cam, my OCD kicked in when I made mine, used a ball mill to finish the relief, didn't want the square edge. All blued in my pottasium nitrate aka salt petre bath. Readily available here in Philippines for Mango agriculture and gunpowder for fire cracker manufacture.
G'Day Willem, now that's the sort of stuff we can't get here in Australia any more. I used to love making smoke bombs with Potassium Nitrate when I was a kid. This thing if very bulky so I don't expect any failures with it. I am very happy with the finish it leaves. Cam
Gday Cam, you really can’t beat a fly cutter finish, I’ve been using a Palbit DCMT insert lately, I was using cheap eBay specials previously, the difference between the 2 inserts is very noticeable as well as the longevity of the insert, great build mate and thanks for the mention, cheers
G'Day Matty, thanks for looking in mate. Its my first build for quite a while, got a lot happening at home right now so not a lot of time in the shop. I'm very happy with the finish it leaves, 0.5mm is probably about the max I would take buts its great for finishing off parts. Thanks for the push along to do this one. Cam
A button insert face mill of an appropriate diameter takes a lot of beating. Balanced tool, higher rpm, much faster feeds, and much less impact on the part and spindle bearings. Modern ground inserts in modern close tolerance pockets with multiple inserts engaged all lead to a virtually flawless finish in a fraction of the time.
Hi, yep totally agree, a good face cutter with quality proprietary tips does leave a great finish. Yes the unbalanced dynamic of a Fly Cutter can be a problem. My largest face cutter is 80mm diameter. The Fly Cutter will comfortably machine out to a 150mm diameter with a very good result. I think I will only use this where the finish makes the part look good to the eye, for 90% of work I do the facing cutter is fine. Anyway it was a fun project to do on the side. Cam
Can you please explain why the tool is tilted at an angle, if it was flat to the bed the insert edge would still be the lowest point. I think cutting the tool on an angle is a leftover idea for when there were flat HSS toolbits. With the insert protruding beyond the toolholder body on insert tools you are using, is this angle required?
G'Day Marley, angling the tool further reduces the rake angle on the front in the direction of feed. I have a straight fly cutter that I tried this tool on, it was like cutting under the skin of a chicken. It skimmed under the surface and didn't create a chip, just created a thin skin. With the angled cutter it creates a nice chip and I can cut deeper with less rake. Cam
@@camatbattler2233 Thanks mate. I assumed that the depth of these finishing cuts would always be less than the radius of the insert to reduce clatter making the approach the same at these shallow depths of cut. I understand that this is not desireable at larger depths of cut but if it was an issue why not use a square insert at 45 degrees or a round insert, both set flat? There seemed to be a lot of extra work to replicate the angle on old style flycutters that were designed for flat sided square HSS toolbits that did not have the advantage of the cutting tip above the tool face.
Hi Marley, the type of tool used was what I had at hand. Its a left hand insert tool the I use vary rarely so I thought I would get some more use out of it in a Fly Cutter. Maybe one day I'll buy a Button Insert Tool and try that but this does exactly what I wanted it to do, leave a brilliant finish on the part when required. Cam
Hi Cam, my OCD kicked in when I made mine, used a ball mill to finish the relief, didn't want the square edge.
All blued in my pottasium nitrate aka salt petre bath.
Readily available here in Philippines for Mango agriculture and gunpowder for fire cracker manufacture.
G'Day Willem, now that's the sort of stuff we can't get here in Australia any more. I used to love making smoke bombs with Potassium Nitrate when I was a kid. This thing if very bulky so I don't expect any failures with it. I am very happy with the finish it leaves.
Cam
Well done! Leaves a nice finish..
Hi DK, yep I'm very happy with it.
Cam
Gday Cam, you really can’t beat a fly cutter finish, I’ve been using a Palbit DCMT insert lately, I was using cheap eBay specials previously, the difference between the 2 inserts is very noticeable as well as the longevity of the insert, great build mate and thanks for the mention, cheers
G'Day Matty, thanks for looking in mate. Its my first build for quite a while, got a lot happening at home right now so not a lot of time in the shop. I'm very happy with the finish it leaves, 0.5mm is probably about the max I would take buts its great for finishing off parts. Thanks for the push along to do this one.
Cam
A button insert face mill of an appropriate diameter takes a lot of beating. Balanced tool, higher rpm, much faster feeds, and much less impact on the part and spindle bearings. Modern ground inserts in modern close tolerance pockets with multiple inserts engaged all lead to a virtually flawless finish in a fraction of the time.
Hi, yep totally agree, a good face cutter with quality proprietary tips does leave a great finish. Yes the unbalanced dynamic of a Fly Cutter can be a problem. My largest face cutter is 80mm diameter. The Fly Cutter will comfortably machine out to a 150mm diameter with a very good result. I think I will only use this where the finish makes the part look good to the eye, for 90% of work I do the facing cutter is fine. Anyway it was a fun project to do on the side.
Cam
Looks like you have a very nice tool there Cam. 👍
Hi Tom, yep it was a quick easy one but one I've been meaning to make for a long time.
Cam
@@camatbattler2233 I know the feeling. Too many shop projects to do and not enough time to get to them all.
Nicely done!!
Thanks twoprop, its going to be great for finishing parts out.
Cam
Can you please explain why the tool is tilted at an angle, if it was flat to the bed the insert edge would still be the lowest point. I think cutting the tool on an angle is a leftover idea for when there were flat HSS toolbits. With the insert protruding beyond the toolholder body on insert tools you are using, is this angle required?
G'Day Marley, angling the tool further reduces the rake angle on the front in the direction of feed. I have a straight fly cutter that I tried this tool on, it was like cutting under the skin of a chicken. It skimmed under the surface and didn't create a chip, just created a thin skin. With the angled cutter it creates a nice chip and I can cut deeper with less rake.
Cam
@@camatbattler2233 Thanks mate. I assumed that the depth of these finishing cuts would always be less than the radius of the insert to reduce clatter making the approach the same at these shallow depths of cut.
I understand that this is not desireable at larger depths of cut but if it was an issue why not use a square insert at 45 degrees or a round insert, both set flat? There seemed to be a lot of extra work to replicate the angle on old style flycutters that were designed for flat sided square HSS toolbits that did not have the advantage of the cutting tip above the tool face.
Hi Marley, the type of tool used was what I had at hand. Its a left hand insert tool the I use vary rarely so I thought I would get some more use out of it in a Fly Cutter. Maybe one day I'll buy a Button Insert Tool and try that but this does exactly what I wanted it to do, leave a brilliant finish on the part when required.
Cam