Haas Tooling Discount

Well, you certainly don't want that kit with the arbor and all. You will want to buy the face mill and mounting bolt from Haas, and get an R8 shell mill arbor from another supplier.

As for which type of face mill, it all depends on your specific need. I have their 2" HOP, 4" HOP, and three different 2" HRNP face mills (each outfitted with different insert grades for aluminum, steel, and stainless).

The HOP is a single-sided, high positive rake octagon insert and is ideal for surfacing material. Since the insert is 8-sided, it will leave a 45° shoulder. DOC is limited with this face mill. I just recently add the 2" version to my collection to give me more positioning flexibility on the relatively samll mill table (compared to your ACRA). Here's a demo of that 4" HOP face mill on 6061. This photo shows the shoulder it leaves (see edges of the four pads) - so the octagon style insert is not what you want if you're after a square corner shoulder. This particular part is 7075 aluminum after I had it hard anodized.

IMG_6301 (4).jpeg

For square corner work and where you want more DOC, the HRNP style is the right choice. It will machine up to about 0.400" DOC.

Here is a video of that 2" HRNP cutting 304 SS (with inserts graded from SS). DOC is .187", WOC is 3/8", 625 RPM, 12 IPM feed rate. This is at the absolute limits of my 935 mill rigidity, but the face mill performed very well.

Here is the 2" HRNP in action on 7075 aluminum. 0.125" DOC, 20 IMP feed rate, 2800 RPM.


This is where I got all my R8 shell mill arbors - pick the one that fits your chosen face mill (the 2" takes a 3/4" arbor, the 4" takes a 1½" arbor). If you buy a 2" sized face mill from Haas, be sure to get the mounting bolt from Haas as the head diameter for the counterbore in the face mill is smaller than what you'd normally find with a 3/4" R8 arbor. That bolt is listed here.

Hope this helps. There's more info, including input from Mark in this thread.
 
I bought 2 of the 3" face mills from the last sale, one each for steel, and aluminum. I'm looking to get a 4" now, I am impressed on how they work.
 
I have to admit that a year ago, I was a bit skeptical about Haas entering the “razor blade” end of the machining market. But my reservations thus far have been unfounded.

The Haas face mills are great values. But to me, perhaps the best contribution Hass is making with their entry into tooling is the clear and transparent articulation about which indexable insert to use with which material. Their inserts may be proprietary, but they are reasonably priced, and not cloaked in “manufacture’s grading” obfuscation. “This is for aluminum, this is for hard alloy steels” etc. provides enormous clarity for those of us who are not full time tooling engineers. Sure beats trying to decode “VNMG 32.51.5 IC807” - although it will certainly dampen my book sales. :p

I have been testing some Haas lathe tooling and inserts (good so far), and I just ordered a bunch of Haas carbide end mills and chamfer mills and will be testing them over Q1 2022. Stay tuned.
 
Was the package discount a one-time event, or have the sale prices come back at any point?


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The discount was for a package that included the face mill, 10 inserts, and the CAT40 or 50 arbor. The discount deal is over, but now you can buy the items separately. No affiliation with Haas.

 
I just got a note from them, and bought some backup inserts:encourage:
 
I have not since a package deal since but sales on individual items occur.
 
For the folks who've used the Haas shell mills for a while, which do you consider most essential? Would you buy the same models again if you had the chance?

I'm interested in buying two cutters for general purpose face milling on my 935 - one for aluminum and one for mild steel. I don't currently have any stainless projects.

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Consider the travel limits of your 935 first. With a power feeder on the X-axis, the travel limits are essentially 23" in X, and 13" in Y. If you put a 4" face mill on the machine, it can ramp onto and off of a piece of material that's 15" long X 5" wide. With a 2" face mill, the effective material size to ramp onto and off of is 19" x 9" which is far more useful IMO. I have both 2" and 4" diameter and the 2" is far more useful IMO because of the limited travel of the 935. If I had a 50" table, that might be a different story.

I have the two different types of Haas face mills for my 935 and have been very happy with their performance. The first is the version that takes the octagon-shaped insert with 8 cutting edges. This is a terrific face mill for surfacing material, but it does not cut to a square shoulder. Depth of cut is limited to about 1/8". I have this face mill in 2" and 4" and rarely use the 4" because of the limited table travel of the 935. I have on hand two different types of inserts for this cutter - one type for aluminum, and another for steel/stainless. This is the link to that cutter:


That face mill accepts the following insert types:


The other version I have is one that will cut to a square corner, and has substantially greater potential depth of cut (just over 1/2"), and uses rectangular inserts with four cutting edges (two on each side). I actually have 3 of these cutters in 2", each configured with different inserts - one for aluminum, one for stainless, and one for alloy steels. I could easily get by with one copy of this cutter if I were willing to swap out the inserts when switching between materials - but I'm lazy. This is the link to that cutter:


That face mill accepts the following insert types:


For both, you will need the special sized shell arbor mounting bolt:


And a shell mill arbor of course. This is the R8 3/4" shell arbor I use with the 2" diameter face mills:


Hope this helps.
 
Much appreciated. Face mills and inserts just arrived. Waiting on shell mill arbors (backordered) and then I can make some chips.
 
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