Favourite facing cutters for Taig mill?

[MarkU]

I am mostly using 1/8" end mills to cut aluminum, it generally gives me the right balance of detail and power for what I am making - the one area where they are really sub-optimal is when I am facing larger blocks (4" x 6" for example) prior to milling out e.g. a mould, then it takes forever to cover the whole surface, especially if I set some overlap. What would you recommend as the "best" (in terms of both surface flatness and stock removal rate) facing cutter for aluminum in a DSLS3000 CNC Taig mill?

thanks!

Mark

[Jeff-Birt]

It is hard to beat a fly cutter for surfacing a large area. Taig has one available with a 3/8" shank for the mill that works well.

[rowbare]

Probably the best bet for surfacing is a fly cutter. It leaves a nice surface but you can't take very deep cuts. I think it is about $30. Other than that, I use a 3/8" end mill.

bob

[icepick method]

I got the flycutter recently, do i need to shape the cutter before using it or is it fine out of the box?

[Jeff-Birt]

I fyou have the one that Taig sells it comes with a pregorund bit that is ready to go out of the box. Just make sure you put the bit in the correct direction.

[icepick method]

I tried flycutting some 6061 alu this past week teaching myself how to square a cube, and the finish came out very fuzzy. Is there a way to get the smooth glass finish like i see on youtube videos? I read on another forum that this happens when the tip of the cutter is a sharp point and that rounding it off will improve the finish. Is that true? I was running with the third pulley from the bottom and hand jogging in mach across the material at .01 steps on the z each pass i believe.

[dlaery]

Through a search I found how to shape up the end of the fly cutter to make a mirror finish. I use the 2nd pully from the bottom and only take .005 per pass.

[John V]

Through a search I found how to shape up the end of the fly cutter to make a mirror finish. I use the 2nd pully from the bottom and only take .005 per pass.

Do you happen to have the link handy?

[dlaery]

Sorry, I didn't save any links and I have slept since then.
Here is what I think I used (picture)
fly cutter

I did a search on Google: shape fly cutter

Hope this helps.