Big Fly Cutters

[kevperro]

I'm looking for a big fly cutter. I'm going to be doing a lot of finishing/surfacing on 6061 aluminum bar stock. The largest I see at Enco with an R8 shank is 2.5".

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?P...PMAKA=225-3010

In the Tormach video they use a bigger one. Does anyone have any experience running bigger fly cutters in their Tormach and if so, where did you buy the tool?

[DMF_TomB]

I have seen and used big flycutters that were a rectangular bar welded to a shaft. Usually holding 2 cutter bits at opposite ends of rectangular bar. On mills using a R8 collet large flycutters beat up the key / keyway holding the R8 collet. Also the pounding of the flycutter can shake and loosen bolts (also can loosen a part in a vise).

With CNC sometimes a small Carbide Insert mill like (or a Face Mill with APKT Inserts) at a high rpm and high feed but light depth of cut can work very well. When feeds are over 20 inches per minute chips are flying, many times faster that a flycutter at a lower feed.

Only real advantage of flycutters is tooling is cheap and cost to resharpen is cheaper if labor cost is low.

[philbur]

Making your own flycutter has got to be about as simple as it gets.

Phil

Originally Posted by kevperro I'm looking for a big fly cutter. I'm going to be doing a lot of finishing/surfacing on 6061 aluminum bar stock. The largest I see at Enco with an R8 shank is 2.5". http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?P...PMAKA=225-3010 In the Tormach video they use a bigger one. Does anyone have any experience running bigger fly cutters in their Tormach and if so, where did you buy the tool?