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View Full Version : Fly cutter/tooling for the 2.2kw spindles



Lee Roberts
06-07-2016, 01:39 PM
I don't need one just yet but I was wondering what people are/have used for tooling in the Chinese water cooled spindles to fly cut their machine bed flat and true?

On my first "real - as in not made from mdf" machine I'm building, the cutting area is smaller than the bed size, so I'm thinking I need something with a bit of reach to get at the full bed please.

Thanks

.Me

Clive S
06-07-2016, 05:19 PM
I don't need one just yet but I was wondering what people are/have used for tooling in the Chinese water cooled spindles to fly cut their machine bed flat and true?

On my first "real" machine I'm building, the cutting area is smaller than the bed size, so I'm thinking I need something with a bit of reach to get at the full bed please.

Thanks

.MeLee something like this http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Surface_Trim__3_Wing_250.html but you can get cheaper if you shop around.


You don't need to surface the whole bed in fact you will end up with a nice reference edge to put parts against

Lee Roberts
06-07-2016, 06:46 PM
Thanks mate,

I was actually thinking more along the line of something proper like in this pic, with the right shank for the collets:

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160706/fcc43725e4e0a0a47caa4710a4a27326.jpg

Looking into it more it looks like allot of people just make up their own design/holder for the type of cutter they want to use:

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160706/9bc9e47567a0aa0e544c5ed7ec3d19ce.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160706/d50a75b1f0713ae98ffd9b2be07c7925.jpg

I guess it's something I can look at once it's up and running, a lathe by then maybe nice/handy too. If I decide to make my own that is, I'll keep looking :).

.Me

Lee Roberts
06-07-2016, 07:12 PM
This one on ebay dosnt look to bad at £9 : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152127908978

A better buy: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162124411254

.Me

routercnc
06-07-2016, 07:27 PM
Hi Lee,

For wood the wealdon tool would be fine. I've used 18mm 2 flute carbide tipped cutters with no issues on wood. I'm sure you could go higher.

But I think for skimming aluminium the flycutter styles pictured above would be hard on the spindle bearings with the interrupted cut, and you would need to run at a high rpm (due to the limited torque) which would be way too fast for the surface speed. I've not tried this, just my thoughts on it.

If you do make/buy a flycutter style tool I'd be tempted to keep the radius down. Larger radius also amplifies any out of tram on the spindle.

My method is a 6mm 2 flute carbide and lots of patience. If you are going for the 2.2kW then you can go up to ~12mm.

cropwell
06-07-2016, 07:27 PM
Lee,

The trouble with fly cutters is balance. An out of balance cutter at 10,000 rpm will shorten the life of the spindle bearings. Something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6mmx30mm-CNC-Bottom-Cleaning-Bit-Cutter-Engraving-Carving-Woodworking-Tool-/262473075671?hash=item3d1c9d4bd7:g:Yx8AAOSwbYZXVoP Y will be better. It's called a bottom cleaner, but......:barbershop_quartet_:barbershop_quartet_

Rob

Gary
06-07-2016, 07:34 PM
Tried it on aly with a proper fly cutter and found it hard getting over 4Krpm and at that speed the spindle will stall very easily.

njhussey
06-07-2016, 11:10 PM
Lee, I've got the expensive Wealden Tool trepanning tool (£99 😱) and it's fantastic so the cheaper one will be just as good. As others have said you don't want to go with something that's unbalanced....

JAZZCNC
06-07-2016, 11:36 PM
DONT try it those things are leathal if spun too fast and like been said there's no torque at low speeds with these spindles.

Go with the Trepanning tool it will be fine.

Snapper
12-10-2017, 04:27 PM
I know this is an old thread but I just came across it searching on google for something completely unrelated, so thought I'd share in case anyone else comes across it.

I seem to have found the sweet spot for my machine with a 2.2kw spindle with a stub length, 10mm 3 flute carbide end mill. Small enough that it can be spun somewhere in the powerband, bigger than waiting for a smaller tool to get it all done and can feed at a half decent rate, leaving a lovely finish on the top of 6082. Can get away with taking DOC of about 2mm at 67% engagement. If you have a stiffer machine you'd get away with taking off more.