Cheap face mills

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AllenH59
Posts: 479
Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:26 pm
Location: Prince George BC Canada

Cheap face mills

Post by AllenH59 »

Hi guys, have been away quite a while, between working and raising the kid, however, in a moment of weakness I bought a 1", 2" and 3" face mills, the cheap ones that take the TPG inserts. These have integral R8 shanks. I have not had a face mill before, and in truth, mostly bought them as an impusle buy. However, if you have anything to say about them I would appreciate it. I bought 20 inserts to go with them, so I will be using them a long time. These cut with positive rake. I have a belt drive 2hp mill. Thanks
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2-Carbide-Indexa ... xyOlhSxuMF
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warmstrong1955
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Location: Northern Nevada

Re: Cheap face mills

Post by warmstrong1955 »

I have a 2" and a 3" APT brand I picked up from Enco.
Looks the same as the ones in your eBay link.

No complaints....work quite well.
They don't do well with larger DOC's.
Use quality USA inserts. Cheap ones don't hold up well, and they vary in dimension, causing one to cut deeper than the others. Kinda makes for a less than spectacular finish.

Trial run of the 3". These are made of AR500 wear plate. I finished the width with a 4-flute carbide end-mill.
Cheap inserts, note the finish. (Finish didn't matter....but still.....)
I bought a 45 degree square insert Glacern later. Much better at hogging out material, but not for milling a square corner.
H-Mill Parts.jpg
Bill
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
AllenH59
Posts: 479
Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:26 pm
Location: Prince George BC Canada

Re: Cheap face mills

Post by AllenH59 »

thanks, I will post an image of how it works with the cutters I bought with it when it comes in. I am thinking that there is a 45 degree one coming on my next occasion to buy myself a present.
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Rex
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Location: DFW Texas

Re: Cheap face mills

Post by Rex »

I have several, from 1.125" to 4".
Using the larger ones on my Millrite hasn't been very satisfactory.
At lowest RPM it makes sparks, even on soft steel or cast iron.
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wlw-19958
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Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2006 5:41 pm
Location: Lewes, DE

Re: Cheap face mills

Post by wlw-19958 »

Hi There,

Rex, What RPM is your Millrite's motor?

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb
Richard_W
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Location: Molalla, Oregon

Re: Cheap face mills

Post by Richard_W »

I find that those type of cutters work well in the smaller diameters. I have an 1 1/2" that I use often it does really well on a Bridgeport type machine with a 3 HP. I have taken a 1/4" depth of cut running at 1800 RPM and had the feed dial on a servo type feed turned up almost all the way. I would get one bigger than 2 1/2" diameter because the depth of cut is reduced to about a 1/16" or it chatters with a 5 tooth cutter.

Richard W.
akajun
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:39 pm
Location: Brusly, LA

Re: Cheap face mills

Post by akajun »

I got one of these the other day, NOS Kenametal 2" with kenametal inserts. Took a little fiddling with but it cuts a ok finish in mild steel but I noticed that it liked the higher end of the RPm and a fast feed rate. I was running 930rpm and about 12ipm feed at .010 Depth.
IM running a Lagun 2hp btw.
PeteM
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Location: West Coast, CA

Re: Cheap face mills

Post by PeteM »

Triangular geometry inserts aren't the best for a somewhat low power, low rigidity mill -- even the positive geometry ones. Better to get something with a modern geometry -- with import face mills available around $100 and the inserts about $10 each.
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Rex
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Location: DFW Texas

Re: Cheap face mills

Post by Rex »

wlw-19958 wrote:Hi There,

Rex, What RPM is your Millrite's motor?

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb
Not at the shop now, but IIRC it's about 400 RPM at the slowest speed.
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wlw-19958
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Location: Lewes, DE

Re: Cheap face mills

Post by wlw-19958 »

Hi There,
Rex wrote:Not at the shop now, but IIRC it's about 400 RPM at the slowest speed.
Okay, it sounds like you have the 1800 RPM motor. This should
give you spindle speeds between 390 RPM and 5220 RPM.

My Millrite has the 1/2 HP gear motor (with a RPM of 280) and
this gives me spindle speeds from 75 RPM to 1080 RPM so I
have an advantage when it comes to swinging large diameter
cutters. Of course, the slower spindle speeds are a disadvantage
when milling softer materials but if it becomes critical for me,
I do have a spare Millrite 1800 RPM motor. Actually, I have a
complete head assembly but it is easier to swap just the motor.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb
Jaxian
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Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2013 1:38 am

Re: Cheap face mills

Post by Jaxian »

I have a 2.5" Toolmex face mill that uses 5 SEHT type carbide inserts as I recall. It does like higher speeds. Up around 1000 rpm. It does throw dark blue chips that melt things so I had to make some walls for when I use it. I have not had luck with buying cheap small insert face mills because they aren't made to close enough tolerance to not drag one insert and leave a bad finish. Using good quality inserts helps as they are usually to a closer spec. Only issue with the higher speeds is an epic mess. Great finish though.
Table cover 002 small.jpg
The tolerance on inserts is the third letter (tnMg for example, M is the tolerance). "A" being smallest spec and getting larger. You will usually find the looser tolerance ones in adjustable holders.

I stay under 3" facemills for my Lagun as you can run into rigidity and chatter issues with larger end mills with lots of inserts. The finish is like a mirror.

Conversely I have 5", 6", two 8" and two 10" face mills for my larger mill. All but one use carbide and all have to be individually adjusted for height. It is an enormous PITA on a 20 insert face mill. The larger face mills get so much SFPM and are designed with such aggressive DOC and feeds that rpms tend to stay low. I will use 17 - 34 rpm for the 10" in cast iron. I have one very old 20 insert 10" that is a direct spindle bolt on that runs best amazingly slow. At that diameter and 17 rpms it looks like it's barely moving. It weighs about 35 lbs though and can mow through huge cuts. Ugly old bastard but it works and I can still get inserts for it.

Pic of it and the 2.5" Toolmex.
Face mill 001.jpg
You really almost have to treat the 1.5" and smaller face mills as a different kind of cutter from the larger ones, talking about the 1.5"-3" disregard the giant ones as they are too specialized to really pertain to the discussion as much more than a reference. I really tend to treat the 3" type with 4+ inserts a lot different than the 1.5" in ones with three.
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