flycutters

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I would like some advice on grinding the cutting edge on a flycutter.This is fitted into lathe mandrel and will be used mostly to face square steel. I’ve searched the web and got loads of conflicting advice, some say ” like a left hand lathe tool” and some with fancy chip breakers, most look fragile. My idea is a tapered end with radius-ed tip, with side relief., any ideas welcome.

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Gordon,

 

For fly cutting on my small Chinese Milling machine  I use an HSS tool ground similar to a left hand, round nosed, lathe tool.  Below is a picture of the tool with a sample of 50mm sq. bdms I faced with it.  The finish is very much better than the camera shows with no discernible tool marks when a thumbnail is drawn over it.

 

The finishing cut was just .05mm.  I couldn’t tell the cutter speed exactly as I set it by sound and feel rather than strict rpm, but I was cutting at about the same rate as on a lathe.

 

The tool tip had been honed with a fine carborundum slip stone (I don’t bother honing the whole face, it’s a waste of time and effort).

 

My next task with this tool is a 300mm x 125mm cast iron slab which need facing .

 

 

 

Edited By Terryd on 27/06/2010 12:18:36

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi again Gordon,

 

The pictures of the sample and tool don’t look too clear on the posting, the originals, with much higher resolution, are  here and here.

 

The cutter is 5/16″ sq hss by the way.

 

 

Terry

Edited By Terryd on 27/06/2010 12:25:11

[Rob StevensParticipant @robstevens54297]

My thanks to you both, Gordon for being braver than me asking the question and Terry for some very useful advice.

 

Terry – any chance of a close up side view to demonstrate any relief on the tool? (you see I really am a beginner – perpetual I’m afraid).

 

On another note:

 

I have found that the Diamond Tool holder (from an Australian company featured on this website) has been a revelation for me. Until I acquired it I was dependant on carbide tipped / replaceable tip lathe tools. Even I can grind a useable cutting edge on it and it appears to cut really well, easy to set up in the lathe (no shims required). This tool is now available in the UK, I believe, saving a fortune on postage and customs duty.

 

Rob

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Rob,

 

I’m really no expert either,  but here is a picture of the end view of the fly cutter tool. This was ground freehand and then the edges touched up with a fine stone.  It has done quite a bit of work and needs a lick over with th3e stone again but still cuts reasonably well.  I’ve drawn lines to emphasise the rake and clearance.

 

You can see a hi def picture here if the one here isn’t too clear,

 

Regards,

Terry

 

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Thanks, Terryd, just what I need, and like what I was thinking of!. I have difficulty imagining the finished shapes when grinding tools, for some unknown reason usually find it easier to grind in the vice with an angle grinder, mirror image almost. Finish on bench grinder when shape looks right.Your photos don’t show at all in this forum, but ok from the link. Rob, not brave, just need to know, if you don’t ask you never get.

[BogstandardParticipant @bogstandard]

 I did a writeup here for making a flycutter that will not only take off rather large hunks (I regulary take 1mm off with this on brass and ali) but gives a great mirror finish when small cuts are taken.

 

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=850.msg6442#msg6442

 

Bogs

[Rob StevensParticipant @robstevens54297]

My thanks to everyone for this informative thread – I shall get grinding!

 

Rob

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Bogs,

 

That’s about the shape that I came to develop many years ago (too many really), great minds etc.  But I can only manage about 0.75 mm on my smaller benchtop milling machine but I get a great finish as well.

 

Hi Gordon,

 

I found the problem it is with the way my photo host stores the pictures., every time i upload a picture it alters the location address so suddenly there’s no pics at the original location to display.  That’s why I always give a link.  I have a Flickr account now and am busy moving picture to there and I hope they have a better system.

 

Regards

 

Terry

[BogstandardParticipant @bogstandard]

Terry,

 

The lowly flycutter, as I have found, ranks the same with me as D-bits. They can both do a great job, better than any commercial item costing tens of times more.

It is just a matter of learning how to make and use them correctly in the first place. Use a few basic rules, and they can perform wonders.

 

I use Photobucket for pics, and Youtube for vids. I have found that both of these allow you easier access to your items and display or play them directly on the web page (if they are allowed).. Most of the others just send you to their own site and are a load of hassle, especially if playing vids, they can take a lifetime to buffer before they play, if at all.

With photobucket, I can process my pics, upload them and have them displayed on the web page in a matter of minutes.

For processing my pics I use a freebie prog called Fastone  Photo Resizer, available here.

Resizer 

 

Once set up, I can resize (usually from MB’s to kb’s), colour correct, rename and watermark dozens of pics in seconds, ready to upload to Photobucket and correctly sized to fit a web page.

 

Bogs

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Bogs,

 

I agree with you, there are many old techniques and tools which have served well and produced excellent work since Victorian days and before.  Just because things are old they’re not necessarily redundant, at least that’s what I tell the wife .

 

Thanks for that resizer link.  I use a copy of Paint Shop Pro I purchased years ago for photo retouching and resizing but it can’t do batch processing so I’m downloading a copy to try after your recommendation. I agree that photos need reducing in size.  Most folks take the highest res. pictures their camera can make which is great for posters but end up with huge files.  Like you I resize and usually crop and finish up with pictures just a few kb in size rather than mb.

 

I’ve now set up a new picture hosting account with Flickr and am in the process of moving my photos over and I’ve tried to fool it with this forum but it seems to cope well (so far).  I had used Photobox for years as a host and they are quite good and simple to set up but I’ve been having this problem with moving links to this forum, hence the ‘Image Not Available’ messages.

 

Once again thanks for the effort in replying, we seem to have got a bit away from Flycutters, but that’s the essence of forums, n’est pas ,

 

Terry

 

P.S. I’ve tried the FastStone program and I’m really impressed, thanks muchly for that it will be very useful and save me considerable time with some commercial work I’m doing at the moment.

 

T

 

Edited By Terryd on 29/06/2010 09:50:12

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Thanks to all. Bogs if I’d found the madmodder link when googling I’d never have needed to ask.

[BogstandardParticipant @bogstandard]

Terry,

 

Glad you like the Fastone program. I use it when I am doing a long build posts as it remembers all my settings and renaming profiles, even after I have turned them off and back on again while doing the odd picture.

 

It might have got away from the original post a little, but it if did someone a bit of good, why not?  It cost me nothing to help.

 

In fact it keeps me occupied, as for the last year or so, I haven’t been able to do anything meaningful in my shop (hopefully that will be  improving soon), and I find that by replying to posts, it keeps me in touch with what is going on.

 

 

Gordon,

 

I Google all the time if I can’t find something, but sifting through all the hits mean you can soon lose the plot.

I ask people if I get stuck with something, there is nothing wrong with that. 

 

Bogs

 

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