Face Mill usage

[thedave]

I am looking for a tool to speed up my production on a manual mill. I am needing to do face milling on the tops of .5", and .75" bar stock , and 1.25" and 1.5" Tube that had .25" sidewalls. I am looking to make a single pass on multiple parts in a fixture. Is it ok to use something like a 2.5" face mill as a general tool, or should I use specific diameter tools based on the thickness of the stock. The parts are clamped in a single row, one size at a time. An example would be 6 - 1.5" tubes in a single row.

[Delw]

1st you need to buy a face mill that will fit in your machine and that you can afford.

I would personally buy a 3" or 4" face mill from sandvik, I run them and love them.

[fizzissist]

I'm on board with Delw...

With a Sandvik 245 face mill, you can run that thing in ways you've never dreamed of. Your biggest problem might come with having the power to feed that tool with the speed it really wants.

I've run it dry on 304SS, pushing it almost as hard as the factory specs say, and it just eats material.


Expensive tool, but if you can make it do what it's designed to do, it'll make quick work out of your facing. If you're just doing some light facing, there might be better choices. This tool's a big dog, and wants to work for a living.

[Delw]

My org one is like 15+ years old, beat up still balanced kinda . I've cut everything from inco 718 to delrin sheets with it.

I have the 6 insert one that holds the square inserts at 45 degrees.. this face mill has replaceable carbide seats. I will never own another face mill that doesnt have carbide seats as the pocket seats wear out way to fast.

I can safely take out .200 depth of cut in alum and soft materials and get hardley NO load on the feed axis.

Just makre sure you get the right inserts for the job, and DON"T feed to 90º corners remember your inserts are angled at 45º and you would be cutting alot of material on your second pass if you goto the same dim..

[fizzissist]

What Delw said.

How you enter the cut is CRITICAL. Do NOT take on the material head on. Sandvik has some guidelines on ramping into the part, as well as the exit.

Not only the loading of the inserts at the beginning of the cut, but the unloading at the exit to make sure you don't excessively shock the inserts. They're funny that way.

You don't get something for nothing, so don't think that throwing an expensive tool into the machine is an easy solution, you need to do some homework and make sure that you treat the whole process as a system, and look beyond simple feeds-speeds. Do that, and you'll make some good money.

And you'll stay competitive...because that's what the big boys do.

[underthetire]

Er, guys, manual mill he said. So proper feed in and out can be tough, and not alot of HP or RPM ! And be carefull with a bunch of "same size" parts lined up in a vice or fixture, seen some shoot right through safety windows cause someone thought the vise would hold them.

[thedave]

A lot of parts in this case is 2 parts per vice in custom soft jaws fitted to the part. I guess I should simplify, is it acceptable practice to use a 3" face mill on a .75" wide part, as well as a 2" wide part, or should I be using different size tools for this? I'm looking to save some time by making a single pass. I'm just looking to do facing across the top of the parts to make then square/flat, kinda like a planer on wood.

[Ed from NY]

Originally Posted by fizzissist What Delw said. How you enter the cut is CRITICAL. Do NOT take on the material head on. Sandvik has some guidelines on ramping into the part, as well as the exit. Not only the loading of the inserts at the beginning of the cut, but the unloading at the exit to make sure you don't excessively shock the inserts. They're funny that way.

Hi, could you elaborate on the exit part? On the entry I suppose it is to enter the material at a near tangent angle... I also use climb milling with the column/head under compression, as opposed to tension. Comments? Thanks!

Originally Posted by underthetire Er, guys, manual mill he said. So proper feed in and out can be tough

Are we supposed to vary the feed when entering or exiting the part? By what rate? Thanks #2

[Delw]

Originally Posted by thedave A lot of parts in this case is 2 parts per vice in custom soft jaws fitted to the part. I guess I should simplify, is it acceptable practice to use a 3" face mill on a .75" wide part, as well as a 2" wide part, or should I be using different size tools for this? I'm looking to save some time by making a single pass. I'm just looking to do facing across the top of the parts to make then square/flat, kinda like a planer on wood.

Yes its acceptable practice, heres why, Face mills(good ones) are expensive, so buy the bggest you will use for your machine.

I face everything with my face mills dont care if its a 1/2 wide part or a 3inch wide part. if it needs a face its going to get faced with it.

theres a few reasons I use a face mill rather than a fly cutter or endmills.

you get a better finish and you get a flatter part. I never had good luck with fly cutters( IE one tipped cutters)

I didnt see the part where you have a hand mill, thats why I was being general, face mills are handy tools to have, if your going to use it alot then buy one, however if you have lots of tool changes use the biggest endmill you can get.
When I do a job on a hand mill(which is rare anymore cause of cncs) I always tryed to fit the tool to the job with the least amount of tool changes. I hate manual tool changes as there slow and a pain in the butt.
but you have to work with what you have. so lets say the milling of your part everything , you cant use anything bigger than a 1/2" hell face it with that tool also, no sence in spending 400 bucks for a face mill.

now haveing said that, lest say you have to face mill the parts and then turne them over for some work. Like squaring up a block to xxx size before you start milling or drilling. look into a face mill.

Hope that made sence.
Delw

[Shane123]

i use a 4 inch iscar 45 degree face mill with carbide seats in our hurco and tree vmcs, and in the bridgeport i use a 2 inch sandvik 45 degree face mill with carbide seats. correct inserts are the key! also, entry and exit on the manual is done by cranking it in, then kicking on the power feed once we get 75% of the cutter on the material. with the cnc, i use a radius entry with about a 50% drop in feed till i get about 75% of the cutter over the material, then i hammer it. 99% of our work is stainless 304, so it took a little bit of searching for the right feed/speed as well as the inserts. the inserts we use are kenametals. tried cheaper brands and had less than pleasant results.