A couple toolish questions (from an old tool :))

[Kludge]

These all relate to tooling for the Taig, not the smaller lathes.

In cruising eBay, I ran into some mills that were disk shaped and had the toothy parts along one surface as well as the perimeter. They had diameters ranging from 2.5" to 4" and were an average .5" thick. One other thing they were was cheap. I like cheap. It fits my budget.

It appears I don't have a fly cutter, even though I thought I bought one. Would it be possible to use one of these mills as one or should I bite a soft rubber bullet (to prevent damage to my dentures) and spend the extra for a real fly cutter?

I found a discussion here about carbide lathe tools and what C2 and C6 were good for (and I assume C5 is pretty much C6ish), but in that same cruise I noted that some tools just said they were carbide with no indication of what flavor. What is the best guess as to what they are? (I'm quite happy with HSS for what I do, so this is more out of curiosity.)

(I also saw some carbide endmills that looked promising as to size but, again, no indication what kind.)

Is there any problem if I can't get up to speed/feed rates for certain materials and/or tools or is this going to be a problem. With that, the Taig doesn't have a variable speed drive yet so I have six choices as to how fast I can turn the spindle. If I have a choice between being somewhat under or somewhat over the desired speed, which is the better choice?

The reasons for all the questions about tooling for this machine is that I know that I shall need to whittle down some parts from stock too large for the smaller lathes to handle. They are quite capable within their limitations but the stock I received exceeded those limits quite quickly. BEsides, I went to all the trouble of getting it back in operating condition (and better adjusted that it ever was before) so I really should get some use out of it.

Best regards,

Kludge

 

[Tin Falcon]

These all relate to tooling for the Taig, not the smaller lathes.

So you are milling in the Taig ?
I do not now the price of the other tooling but
Fly Cutter sets
can be had on e-bay buy in now for less than $10.
You can make your own fly cutter.
As far as cutter selection I tend to shy away from carbides in a fly cutter Carbide is hard and brittle . carbide does not like interrupted cuts.
As far as cutting tool selection in the home shop I think there are sometimes too much worries recommended tooling is usually based on a money making shop where it is important to remove the most material in the lease amount of time with minimal down time for tool replacement. Yes there is the best tool for any job but sometimes put in a cutter and make chips is OK.
Again do not worry about ideal perfect world with speeds and feed my old south bend has 6 choices I have to work with. in AF tech school we had to calculate speeds and feeds for jobs then we we basically told to throw the answer out the window and use the 540 rpm setting on the lathe instead of the 1000 rpm the math gave us conservative speeds are OK in most cases.
In general slow speeds heavy feed for roughing higher speeds and slow feeds for a finishing cut.
Tin

 

[Peter Neill]

Kludge, from your description it sounds like the things you saw were Side and Face Cutters, did they look like this?:

If so, then they are not suitable for your Taig. These are used , sometimes ganged up with several others, on a horizontal mill for large amounts of metal removal.
Other than that, Tin Falcons advice on flycutters is sound.

Peter

 

[Kludge]

So you are milling in the Taig ?

Yep. I have the attachments to use it as a horizontal mill, a task it performs admirably. In fact, that's part of why I've been slow on the uptake in buying a vertical mill. Now I have the Unimat's milling column (with it's own headstock) and a few independent support bases for it so I can use it multiple places but I still prefer using the Taig.

As far as cutter selection I tend to shy away from carbides in a fly cutter Carbide is hard and brittle.

The mills I was looking at to use in place of a fly cutter are HSS, not carbide. Sorry for the confusion. The carbide end mills are of unknown breed but I was also looking at HSS (my tool material of choice) so it's no big deal if they aren't suitable for this.

Yes there is the best tool for any job but sometimes put in a cutter and make chips is OK.
Again do not worry about ideal perfect world with speeds and feed my old south bend has 6 choices I have to work with.

Someone told me the "best" tool was the one already in my tool box. If that's the case then my Clisby is better equipped due to some lucky finds. Actually, my watchmaker's lathes are as well. The Taig just has a basic set and a few blanks.

in AF tech school we had to calculate speeds and feeds for jobs then we we basically told to throw the answer out the window and use the 540 rpm setting on the lathe instead of the 1000 rpm the math gave us

That sounds like my kind of instructor!

conservative speeds are OK in most cases.
In general slow speeds heavy feed for roughing higher speeds and slow feeds for a finishing cut.

Cool. THis is perfect - largely because I can remember it. ;D

Thanks, Tin.

BEst regards,

Kludge

 

[Kludge]

Kludge, from your description it sounds like the things you saw were Side and Face Cutters, did they look like this?

YEah, kind of. The cutting surfaces on the faces were on all the teeth and extended closer to the hub. Same idea, though.

If so, then they are not suitable for your Taig. These are used , sometimes ganged up with several others, on a horizontal mill for large amounts of metal removal.

Ah, okay. It was just something that caught my attention while I was window shopping and I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

And, yeah, Tin does have a habit of being right a lot. I wonder if Mrs Falcon has anything to do with that. ;D

Best regards,

Kludge

 

[Maryak]

Kludge,

From what's been said and recommended so far, the cutters may be a shell mill i.e. cuts on the OD and on one end face.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Kludge]

Kludge,

Ummm ... Yes? (Said in a pre-coffee IV voice)

From what's been said and recommended so far, the cutters may be a shell mill i.e. cuts on the OD and on one end face.

Okay, that's a very good description. They were cheap ... er, inexpensive (read as: Even I can afford one ... if I tweak my budget some), and the ones of interest were small enough I could swing on the Taig. Turn it with an adapter on the headstock and put the workpiece on the milling attachment for the cross slide and I thought it'd make a pretty cool way to face material. Guess not. Oh, well.

On the other hand, the smaller ones (around 2" dia) could make some impressive holes in material for any number of things.

BEst regards,

Kludge ... who's wondering what kind of shell needs that big a mill.

 

[shred]

Does your Taig have the ER-16 headstock or the older headstock? If it's the latter, I've got a screw-on flycutter that fits it I never use anymore since I switched to ER on my mill.

Somebody made an arbor for the Taig that will take a shell mill, but the big ones won't work well on that little machine.

 

[Kludge]

Does your Taig have the ER-16 headstock or the older headstock?

The older types - regular and 8mm watchmaker's. I've thought aboiut the ER16 headstock but haven't quite made the leap yet. Besides, I still have a lot of blanks for their collet holder.

If it's the latter, I've got a screw-on flycutter that fits it I never use anymore since I switched to ER on my mill.

Hmmm ... Could I convince you to part with it?

Somebody made an arbor for the Taig that will take a shell mill, but the big ones won't work well on that little machine.

The biggest I can turn is 4" diameter and the smallest I've seen is 2" which is a decent range. You're right about the motor, though. It is a bit inadequate for some tasks. The treadmill motor conversion should help that a bit. I hope. :-\

Thank you.

BEst regards,

Kludge

 

[Maryak]

Maybe, a 40mm Bofor shell ??? ???

Now back to the topic.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[compound driver 2]

Kludge
your going to put a lot of load on a Taig with a face cutter, both side loading and torque loading.

 

[Kludge]

your going to put a lot of load on a Taig with a face cutter, both side loading and torque loading.

If I were to use it as originally intended, very much so. But by using my patented Feather Touch system of operating a lathe (or much of anything in the shop) I think I could get away with using one as a substitute fly cutter. However, that's been knocked down so many times I've decided not to bother. It was just a thought, anyway.

Okay, in recap: carbide bad, HSS good. Side cutters bad, fly cutters good. Fire bad; tree pretty.

Did I miss anything?

Best regards,

Kludge