Face mill finish

[Edward]

Hi guys,

I've just bought a Glaze 50mm 90 degree face mill. I've never used a face mill before, so I don't know what finish to expect. As you can see in the photos, the tool marks are showing, but they are very fine and I can't feel them at all with the finger. Using a Scotch grey polishing pad, they completely go... to give you an idea. The "join" line of the step over is completely level around mid way, but I can just feel the tiniest of raised level at the beginning and at the end.

In other words, the narrow band is slightly higher at both 1/4 ends of the piece, but completely level in the middle. It's pretty minute anyway.

My questions are:

-Are the tool marks to be expected, as I say, I can't feel them, so I think that's pretty good, but is it possible to improve, as in...can one get a mirror finish with a 5 insert face mill, or is this as good as it gets?

-How do you explain the slightly raised level at the step over line, and only at the ends? I thought maybe to do with tramming, but then this would only be evident on one end and not both? The piece is only 60 x 60mm.

The feed was constant, 500mm/min at 1700rpm. Many thanks

Edward