hi-fly-cnc
Aluminum
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2022
Hi, looking to add a facemill to my tool library, but to be fair, I don't yet have (many) specific jobs to drive this purchase, mostly my needs are:
- Best finish quality vs price (meaning not looking to spend into that long tail for tiny gains)
- BBT30 dual contact spindle, 16K (ie std torque). CTS available
- Thinking around 2.5" / 63mm will suit most of my work
- Exclusively for facemill finishing work, ie don't need a shoulder mill. Light finish passes only
- At the moment will only be used in aluminium.
- However, there may be some stainless in my future, would be "desirable" if inserts could be changed to something suitable for this
- Mostly parts held in a vice, but may be some flat work on fixture plate, or possibly on a vacuum table
- Thinking of a 45 degree, but not really sure
- UK based, so many US options aren't easy to get hold of
Main goal is absolute finish quality. Minimise tool marks, etc. I desire a mirror finish, however, I'm not looking to buy into exotic inserts (or bodies), so I don't think it will be possible to get more than a decently shiny finish?
I'm not a terribly experienced machinist, experiences so far are finishing with YG-1 16mm, and most recently I purchased a 16mm Big Kaiser FCR (only 2 inserts on the little guy). The FCR is actually for a specific aluminium job, which needs a 16mm tool, and surface quality is the best of anything I own so far.
My tooling supplier also delivered a Widia 63MM VSM11 shoulder mill at the same time. This is a 90 degree insert. Using a small step over of around 0.05/tooth I get an "ok" finish on a lump of 6082 alu, however, it's not what I would call a mirror finish by any means. More of a shiny brushed alu effect. We played around a bit with speeds, CTS was on for all tests, but broadly it was a bit disappointing.
Quotes for the Big Kaiser Speed Finisher seem to put it into the "exotics", looking at a couple £000s, including inserts.
I see there is an FCM 50mm available (5 inserts). This is a bit smaller than I was thinking of, but it seems quite affordable in comparison. No height adjustable inserts (nor wiper insert) though. Anyone got any opinions on this? The integrated BBT30 holder seems attractive from a rigidity point of view, but no idea what this does for finish quality on a facemill? (The main things I need to surface today are various 32mm and 100mm wide, so 50mm diameter "works", but 50+mm would be slightly better)
I see people with Brother machine recommend the Mitsubishi ASX445. This is a non thru coolant design, my tool supplier calls it "old skool"... Why would this be working well for some people vs some fancy pants new tools? Does anyone have a video of what they can produce on their Brother using this on Alu? I wonder if photos I see on instagram kind of show these looking better than if I were offering a critical eye straight off the machine? Is lack of through coolant on this design a practical negative for finishing passes?
I'm keen to receive more ideas? Assume that I have no way to assess theoretical features of a possible tool, so ideally please spell out the consequences of stuff as though you are talking to a rank amateur... Hey we all have to start somewhere, better to acknowledge lack of skill right?
- Best finish quality vs price (meaning not looking to spend into that long tail for tiny gains)
- BBT30 dual contact spindle, 16K (ie std torque). CTS available
- Thinking around 2.5" / 63mm will suit most of my work
- Exclusively for facemill finishing work, ie don't need a shoulder mill. Light finish passes only
- At the moment will only be used in aluminium.
- However, there may be some stainless in my future, would be "desirable" if inserts could be changed to something suitable for this
- Mostly parts held in a vice, but may be some flat work on fixture plate, or possibly on a vacuum table
- Thinking of a 45 degree, but not really sure
- UK based, so many US options aren't easy to get hold of
Main goal is absolute finish quality. Minimise tool marks, etc. I desire a mirror finish, however, I'm not looking to buy into exotic inserts (or bodies), so I don't think it will be possible to get more than a decently shiny finish?
I'm not a terribly experienced machinist, experiences so far are finishing with YG-1 16mm, and most recently I purchased a 16mm Big Kaiser FCR (only 2 inserts on the little guy). The FCR is actually for a specific aluminium job, which needs a 16mm tool, and surface quality is the best of anything I own so far.
My tooling supplier also delivered a Widia 63MM VSM11 shoulder mill at the same time. This is a 90 degree insert. Using a small step over of around 0.05/tooth I get an "ok" finish on a lump of 6082 alu, however, it's not what I would call a mirror finish by any means. More of a shiny brushed alu effect. We played around a bit with speeds, CTS was on for all tests, but broadly it was a bit disappointing.
Quotes for the Big Kaiser Speed Finisher seem to put it into the "exotics", looking at a couple £000s, including inserts.
I see there is an FCM 50mm available (5 inserts). This is a bit smaller than I was thinking of, but it seems quite affordable in comparison. No height adjustable inserts (nor wiper insert) though. Anyone got any opinions on this? The integrated BBT30 holder seems attractive from a rigidity point of view, but no idea what this does for finish quality on a facemill? (The main things I need to surface today are various 32mm and 100mm wide, so 50mm diameter "works", but 50+mm would be slightly better)
I see people with Brother machine recommend the Mitsubishi ASX445. This is a non thru coolant design, my tool supplier calls it "old skool"... Why would this be working well for some people vs some fancy pants new tools? Does anyone have a video of what they can produce on their Brother using this on Alu? I wonder if photos I see on instagram kind of show these looking better than if I were offering a critical eye straight off the machine? Is lack of through coolant on this design a practical negative for finishing passes?
I'm keen to receive more ideas? Assume that I have no way to assess theoretical features of a possible tool, so ideally please spell out the consequences of stuff as though you are talking to a rank amateur... Hey we all have to start somewhere, better to acknowledge lack of skill right?