Pm727m and face milling

I tried one of those $25 ebay face mills from China and it is about what you would expect. Does it work? Yea sorta. Does it work well? Ehhhhhhh. It will remove material, but there is no way the inserts are at the same height. The finish is fine, but you can clearly see it wobbling. I wouldn't recommend, but for a $25 face mill, I am happy it makes a cut without exploding. This is the only picture I can find of the one I got, but I would recommend a fly cutter as well. A good face mill will be a bit more.

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mikey said:
The Sherline flycutter will produce a superb finish if you have the speed. I haven't had any issues with Z-axis movement while using it. It, too, can hog off a surprising amount of material for a tool of this size. In addition, it can cut to a square shoulder so you can produce a ledge (the Superfly cannot do this). Of all the carbide fly cutters I have used, the Sherline flycutter produces the best finish. The main downside to it is its small size; it only cuts a 1-1/8" wide swath so you have to make multiple passes on larger parts but it will cut and finish quite well. I actually use it a lot more on my RF-31 than I do on the Sherline mill and if you must have a fly cutter on a budget and can accept its limited cutting width then this tool is not a bad choice.
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Is this the flycutter you are talking about? https://www.sherline.com/product/7620-single-flute-insert-fly-cutter/
 
I would suggest this one if you decide to try one. It has a straight shank that will go into a collet. The original Sherline fly cutter has a 1 Morse Taper and you would need an adapter to use it.

This cutter, when used at high speeds around 2400 - 2800 rpm and with a slow feed, will produce a finish in aluminum that will be a near mirror finish; not quite, but amazingly good for a roughing cut! It has cut all machinable materials I've used it on with zero issues. There are a few tools that Sherline makes that are outstanding - this is one of them.
 
mikey said:
I would suggest this one if you decide to try one. It has a straight shank that will go into a collet. The original Sherline fly cutter has a 1 Morse Taper and you would need an adapter to use it.

This cutter, when used at high speeds around 2400 - 2800 rpm and with a slow feed, will produce a finish in aluminum that will be a near mirror finish; not quite, but amazingly good for a roughing cut! It has cut all machinable materials I've used it on with zero issues. There are a few tools that Sherline makes that are outstanding - this is one of them.
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Yea thats the thing, my mill only goes to 1750rpm... i dont know how well it would work.
 
And only having 1 cutter, im afraid its gunna beat the heck outta my spindle or hurt the r8 taper?
 
Brad125 said:
And only having 1 cutter, im afraid its gunna beat the heck outta my spindle or hurt the r8 taper?
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No, it won't hurt the machine. Your machine is rated to take a 1" end mill or a 3" face mill. A little Sherline flycutter won't stress your 500# machine much at all. I take deep cuts with this tool on my little Sherline mill with no issues and my entire mill probably weighs less than the vise on your machine. I also use it on an RF-31 and it cuts extremely well, albeit in small bites.

I don't only flycut with the Sherline tool. I use it like a single-flute face mill so it will do stock reduction and cut to shoulders. I often use it on steel and stainless steel for roughing and edge profiling because it will do what an end mill will do and outlast an end mill by a long shot.

The inserts last a long time, at least in my hands. On aluminum, I can go the better part of a year before I have to index the cutter. In steel, the inserts don't last as long but I still get a lot of mileage out of them. I like this tool, a lot.
 
So with the sherline tool, i can use it like and end mill also? Like run it along the out edge of a part to clean it up?
 
Another question mikey, what size is the shank on the sherline fly cutter? Its just says straight shank, the description says nothing else.
 
Brad125 said:
So with the sherline tool, i can use it like and end mill also? Like run it along the out edge of a part to clean it up?
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You can use it like you would use the end of an end mill. Since it has no flutes on the sides, no, you cannot run it on the edge to cut.

The shank of the tool is 1/2" od. It will fit in a 1/2" R8 or ER collet.
 
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