Making a PRETTY Fly Cutter | CRAIG'S WORKSHOP
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 มิ.ย. 2024
- I have been desperate for a larger fly cutter, and now was a great time to make one. Please watch along to see my take on this classic tool.
Enjoy!
If you would like to help with the channel, here is my patreon link:
/ craigsworkshop
Take a look at my website here:
craigsworkshop.net
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:05 Turning the shank
2:26 Turning the business end
3:18 Angular haircut
6:24 Groovalicious
9:56 Hand finishing
12:18 Drilling and tapping
13:43 Demonstration
14:31 Very interesting outro - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Glad to see a new project from you and it was enjoyable as always. And the fly cutter looks great! Also, this is somewhat random, but I particularly like the way you narrate. As someone who meticulously scripts out my voiceovers, hearing the way you describe things in ways I never considered is really interesting. Almost every video of yours there are moments where I catch myself thinking "man, that is such a good way of describing that!". Anyway, great work, and hope to see more soon!
Thanks Brandon. You already know I'm a big fan of your videos and channel. So it means a hell of a lot to me that you would make a comment like that 🙂 As for making more frequent videos, I am going to see what I can do about that. I don't know if I can match your output, fortnightly videos, but I will certainly try to get more done. Thanks again 👍🍻
High praise!
In the world of comments sections full off trolls and “I would have”s it’s really heartwarming to see positive comments, especially from TH-camrs you subscribe to and respect
@@CraigsWorkshop C'mon Craig, we all know that the only time Brandon makes anything entertaining is when he adds to "The Box of Shame"!
One of the better machining videos on here. No extra fluff or acting. A good basic fly cutter nothing fancy! Does what you need it to! Keep it up. First video I’ve seen from you but will check others out
Gday Craig, the fly cutter turned out great and it’s amazing what finish you can achieve, my Cincinnati has power feed on X Y and Z with rapids, power feed is a must I feel, it makes getting a perfect finish that much easier, I think it’s important to show mistakes, it can really help other avoid doing the same and that’s the reason I show mine, we all make them and I’m always amazed at how many channels never make a single screw up but when you watch closely every now and then you’ll notice a different piece of material being used, awesome result mate, cheers
Thanks mate, and thanks again for the info and inspiration to make one of these. It will get used on everything from now on 😁 Power feed is a must. I will be tackling that some time soon, but no promises about the timeline. I am terrible at sticking to a plan. 🍻👍
… And all the girlies say he's pretty fly for a white guy
@@warrenwise8127 That's the one 😁
Matty knows his fly cutters 👍
Awesome. I'll the the second one. 😅
Thanks mate. I'll trade you my second fly cutter, for your second six jaw chuck. I need a 200mm one, with D1-4 backplate :D
Agree on the Beatles, their early machining days lead to "Hard Day's Night" and working like a dog. Thanks from Colorado.
That's absolutely right 😁
Great job and a great film! I didn't realise collet blocks came with that many sides! Looking forward to the next film 👍 🇬🇧
Cheers Matt - thank you for the comment. Yes - these 12 side-blocks are pretty handy. It would be a fun project to make one. For this project wasn't really needed - but it's the only collet block I have. In use, it's a bit like a combination of the 6 sided and the 4 sided, all in one block.
Came out well, enjoying the commentary 😂
Cheers Bundy 😁
Just found you a few days ago. I’m painfully ignorant of the machinist world. I recently purchased an old Baldingmil. Appears to have been made in 1967. Needs a bit of love. Actually, it needs a lot of love.
I’m very much appreciating your channel.
Thanks Rich - glad you are enjoying the videos! That's a great mill you have there.
This is my first time watching one of your videos. The fact that you take machining advice from Beatles songs earned you an instant subscribe 😂.
Thanks Patrick :)
Hmm! Hand filing or, as we termed it when training in both the 70’s and 80’s, hacking and filing. Lovely! Hand in your 1/16” (1.6mm) rod filed lovingly 😐 from a square screwed up and tossed in the bin and replaced by another starting object because you went out of tolerance is ‘character building’ stuff, I am told 😊
So i want to thank you for making me spit out my dinner when you mentioned you made that first mistake on purpose. Truly enjoying your vids.
Thanks Jeremy. More soon!
Hmmm 🤔, this is a first for me - a Beatles machining reference! Well spotted, Craig. 👍
Nice project, this. I’m with you on the Zen aspects of filing. Clickspring went a long way to show what’s possible.
Thanks 😁 Yes Clickspring is another favourite channel of mine.
Great job Craig . I use my fly cutter lots . I made it when I did not have a mill using the lathe to make it . Try HSS on aluminium , finish is awesome if you hone the cutting edge with a stone or diamond lap . I agree about the mistakes being shown . old saying is " he who makes no mistakes is not making anything " .The art of the engineer is to find a way to make the mistakes work . Enjoyed this very much . Cheers Ade.
Thanks Ade. Appreciate your watching and commenting. The little fly cutter I had always used to have a HSS cutter in it with a large ish nose radius (honed as you suggest) and it worked a treat on aluminium. 👌 I have not tried with the new one yet, but I am hopeful that it will work well.
Yup, definitely the first fly cutter build ever! Lol. Nice job, and I like the file work, I also enjoy it for its therapeutic properties. If and when you make your tap follower, check mine out in combination with the Joe Pie tap wrenches which I also made, wouldn't be without them now, they work together so well. Cheers, Jon
it is odd that toolmakers love filing . myself included . Joe pie is a marmite guy for me but he does have loads of set up stuff to share that are great .
Thank you Jon. 🙂 I will check those out. 👍
Agreed 100% Ade. And his shop math stuff in the past has been quite interesting (for me at least). Nice to hear from you 👍🍻
You got it right. Thanks I can actually learn something.
Thank you, that makes me happy 🙂👍
Nice Video Craig, Enjoyed the humor and the cutter came out great... Finally a fly cutter video to fill the empty void..😎
ATB.....Dean
Thanks Dean 😉
I’ll be making a fly cutter today. I love your example. Thanks for a great explanation! Love from 🇺🇸
Thanks very much. Hope yours turned out well!
I like the exit wound clean up wording.
Thank you for this fly cutter video. I could not find any either and they are so complex. You have saved me from having to buy one!
There's a lot going on. Many moving parts. Particularly the parts that should be stationary in the vise. :-)
ZEN, and the art of filling🙂
Something like that 🙂 Cheers Peter 👍
@@CraigsWorkshop exactly like that 😉
G’day Craig. Great job on the fly cutter build mate. She works a treat mate. 👍🍻
Thanks Aaron. Yes I am stoked with it 😃 👍🍻
Very nice Craig 👍👍👍 Great camera angles on the machining. Cheers, Alan.
Thanks Alan. Glad you liked it 👍🍻
excellent cutter and loved the video commentary.
Cheers John! Thanks for the comment and for watching. See you soon.
Thank you Craig, good technically and entertaining.
Cheers Dave. I appreciate you watching and commenting :)
Nice work as always Craig. 😊
Thank you Rob 🙏
Hello Craig,
An enjoyable video, thank you... I must admit I mostly enjoy the hand filing work to the machining... I find it very relaxing and a super sense of achievement.
Take care.
Paul,,
Thanks Paul. Couldn't agree more 👍 Nice to hear from you!
Good to see you found your camera!
Nice build Craig, thanks for sharing
Cheers
Thanks Rick, yes had to dust it off! Next video will be a shorter wait, with any luck. Thanks for watching.
@@CraigsWorkshop
Always a pleasure watching your content
Nice.
Great work Craig 👍👍
👍 Thanks glad you enjoyed it
Great build!
Thanks Ed! I appreciate the comment.
Sinds you made the fly cutter to make a fly cutter, I was wondering how you made the first one. But, of course, as it was given to you by Jeff, it makes perfect sense.
Good point! How did the first one ever get made?
You're true master. Thank for sharing with us 👍👍
Thanks MASI, very kind of you 👍
Great video Craig
Good to have you back
Definitely get a powerfeed going, it's a game changer
Thanks for the view and comment mate. Yep - power feed is high up the list now. It's strange that I've had powerfeed on several (bigger) lathes now, but on none of the mills. I can't wait to get it made, kick it into gear and see a beautiful smooth cut come out... Some day soon!
Thanks for Jeremy makes things for me finding you.
Hi Small Shop Talk. Yes Jeremy's a great guy - I love his attitude to getting things done, I find his channel very inspiring. Thanks for having at look at my channel! Cheers, Craig
@@CraigsWorkshop OH, I plan on watching more. Right now busy on my other channel playing/Modifying Hot Wheels cars. Oh, that is SST Diecast Racing.
@@smallshoptalk589 Thanks, and thanks for the channel name, I'll search it out.
Interesting, using a facing carbide insert/tool holder as a fly cutter, I never would have thought of that. Grounding HSS tool blanks into shape is something that I've not done so I don't have a fly cutter period.
Yes a fly cutter can be a bit of a slow tool otherwise with only one cutting edge. Carbide can run 3-4 times faster which when you have a few surfaces to flatten, really adds up. I have seen others with an insert tool (e.g. Matty's workshop) so it is not my idea but it is certainly a good idea 👍
Got no idea what you just made, never seen anything like it but I enjoyed it 🤣🍺
🤣 You jest, but.. a non-machining friend said something like "Nice doorknob, or whatever it is".
🤣🤣
Enjoyed the build very much, nice fly cutter. If you like filing and finishing, can I recommend Allen Millyard to you, he enjoys the simplistic approach to incredible works. Cheers!
Thanks Howder - I'm glad you liked it. I will definitely check out Allen Millyard. I have not heard that name before, so I'm intrigued. Thank you for the recommendation. Cheers, Craig
Good job!
Thank you Greg!
Good job
I wish someone would make a fly cutter video, for the children, will someone think of the children.
Nice cinematography and editing.
Good content too 🤓
Thank you very much!
I find imperial easier to work with than metric, admittedly my machines are imperial and I prefer it that way.
No problem. I grew up with both, and can convert no problem, but have been standardising on metric for a while now. My two current lathes are both metric. My mill isn't, but the DRO helps me pretend that it is :)
New to your channel and I'm super impressed. Echo the narration comment from @inheritance machining.
Thank you David, I really appreciate the feedback. Helps me know I'm doing something right! Have a good one. Cheers, Craig
To long between posts Craig, nicely done, like the dodecagon does that multiply your mistakes?
Thanks Raymond. Yes I know my videos are few and far between, I'll see if I can do something about that 👍 I've lost count of my mistakes years ago, so I can't accurately tell you if the dodecagon helps or hinders 😂
Nice job Craig!! Have you ever used a face mill and removed all the carbide inserts except one. This leaves a small diameter fly cutter. Just bump up the RPM to give the same surface speed.
Only one cutter eliminates the small height differences between the inserts.
Thanks John. I have heard of this method but no I have not tried it myself. I see no reason why it wouldn't work. I do have a small (50mm) facemill but I do like using it for roughing. I like the idea of having both without having to switch and change the inserts. Also the swing is nowhere near as big as the new fly cutter. I will give it a go one day though just to see how well it does. Cheers, Craig 👍
good one
That looks pretty fly. 😁
Ha ha, thanks Tom 😁 I really hope you are going ok after your recent challenges?
New subscriber here. I have found when using my CCMT inserts, I can get incredibly good surface finishes, but I needed to take heavier cuts,
Thanks Christian, I think part of my issue stems from some cheap inserts I bought when I was starting out. They were a bit hit and miss. I've had cheap inserts that work excellently and some others that just fail quickly and inexplicably. I think I'll try to buy some of the cheaper, but name brand inserts and see how it goes. I've had good luck with Korloy recently. Only had good inserts from that company so far.
Красивая работа!
Thank you! 🙂
TKS CRAIG
G'day Kimber. Thanks for watching. I hope you are keeping well. 👍
I really enjoy the audio commentary. This is a little off topic but I heard you mention you were running your equipment off a VFD. Would you post a video about the electrical side and how you set it up? I am on the fence between a phase converter or a VFD. I do see the added benefits of a VFD as you have excellent speed control.
Thanks Kyle. I will add it to the ideas list. Cheers for watching!
Craig are you referring to the Wilton vice. As Tom created. There is Kurtis from Cutting Edge Engineering CEE in Shine Coast QLD. Kurtis makes boring bars for his lathes 100 Mill also 160 mill, the big ones the type you can not purchase. You properly can BUT at what price.
Hi Graeme. Yes Tom's wilton vise build was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've seen some of Cutting Edge Engineering's videos and they are great. Impressive size of work! Big boring bar for my workshop means 20-25mm diameter perhaps. :)
Nice
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for sharing and welcome back to chip making.😅
Thank you Craig. Good to be back :) Some say I've got a chip on my shoulder, to that, I say: I've also got some down my collar and in my hair.
@Craig's Workshop Oh! Well said. I going to use that.
@@CraigLYoung 😁 you can still use it!
I built a fly cutter a while back on my little homemade lathe, and homemade mill, I cheated a little by welding 2 pieces together rather than spending an eternity turning a large piece down. I get some really fabulous mirror finishes using the same tool you have but with a .8 radius tip, although I do have a power feed on my X axis 👍
Thanks that is good info. I will try the larger nose radius. The thing that will really help though is a power feed for the mill. Building one is on the to-do list 🙂 Thanks for watching. See you in the next video. 👍
@@CraigsWorkshop You're Welcome 👍
I quite like a bit of filing, what make do you use? I would be extremely happy with it too, it does a really excellent job.
I have a bit of a mix. Some Nicholson and some Bahco and some very old unknown ones which were great, but probably due for replacement.
That is one beautiful fly cutter ! I would post a picture of mine but I don’t want to bruise any ego’s here..
(Like mine I mean) 😊
🥲😂 Thanks Jason
I need to make a fly cutter myself. What are your thoughts on moving the grub screws to the other side of the tool holding channel? My thoughts are that way if I have a tool that fits slightly loose, I am still pressing against and registering to the half plane, instead of pushing away from it.
Of the two ways to seat the cutter (against grub screws or against flat steel) from the point of view of the cutting forces, I think that against flat steel is the pick. You could always braze a shim or just clamp a shim to bring your tool to centre height. Having the tool "below" centre height is not ideal because you would need to add extra cutting relief to the geometry, which weakens it. I think the ideal fix is to size the fly cutter body to the shank size you plan to use. Or to have a different fly cutter body for a different tool size. These are just my gut feelings, no science behind it! 🙂 Good luck and thanks for the good question.
Hi Craig, my challenge to you, or anyone else, is to make a flycutter holder of this size and material, using a lathe only. I don't have a mill but I have a toolmaker's 4" CH lathe with a vertical slide, and, an ER32 set of holders. Stability, or chatter, and workholding may be two issues. Your thoughts, as I am not asking you to do it?
Hi Ken. This is definitely possible. You would need to take small cuts, using a small sharp cutter, and have lots of patience. The compound slide on a lathe is not as beefy as the table ways on a mill, so (as you mentioned) stabliity and chatter will be an issue if you are greedy with cuts. The other issue is the workholding compromises with holding the workpiece. As soon as you start milling larger parts on a lathe, workholding gets difficult and you have offsets and overhangs, and small ranges of travel, that will need to be thought through. It's all possible, but not as straight forward as using a mill.
Does your set of ER32 holders include a hex or square collet block? That would be handy for holding the shank of the fly cutter. Otherwise you can make do with a V block and clamp. Good luck!
Cheers, Craig
Thanks Craig, lots of planning. I'll get both holders as I note they are regularly used. Currently making a double filing roller to be able to file squares in the lathe. Nice accessible presentation style, errors and all. Thanks, KC
Hey mate do I need to use coolant with that tool thanks from Australia
I think coolant is more necessary with HSS than carbide, and even with carbide will make the tool last longer, and may give a nicer finish. One of the problems with a fly cutter is they make a big mess though, stuff flies in all directions, so I recommend getting some old scraps of acrylic sheet, and making some guards to cut down how far the swarf and spray can travel.
Is the 12 sided collet block something you made or a purchased item? I’ve never seen one before.
There's an outfit here in Australia (M&G Productions) who I think are the sole distributor, and I think it may be patented. But there is no reason at all you couldn't make one yourself. To be honest it is not as precise and well finished as I would prefer, but it is absolutely fine for non critical things like this. Thanks 👍
why is it that when I used to machine things with a shell mill on a small milling machine the finish was not that good but when I used the fly cutter it was a lot better and that was using the same feeds and speeds?
I know that for me, with my face mill, it's a combination of inserts with a large edge radius and neutral-ish rake, needing a lot more force to cut, and that creates more deflection in the cut, and also - using cheap inserts that don't have a fine size tolerance (e.g. TNMG vs TNGG, or DCMT vs DCGT). One trick is to hone the inserts. and leave all but 1 out of the face mill, then you have a sharp edged single flute fly cutter. Or - upgrade the inserts as I did, and that works well too. I still love the fly cutter, because although it's slower (only one tooth), it's producing a much larger swept area which is a time saver in a different way. Also power feed will make either of these tools perform better than hand feeding.
@@CraigsWorkshop Next year maybe I will build my small workshop out here in Thailand. I think I can only get hold of Chinese machine tools because I'm in Asia and the shipping will be expensive but I have read that some Chinese machines have improved in quality but the price is higher of course. I don't have much knowledge about carbide inserts really I just used to find a tool and use it and if the insert was not up to the standard I just changed it for a different type without knowing the reason why. I worked in a maintenance shop but sometimes I never did any machining for a couple of months it was only as and when but in my last 5 years of working there a friend of mine and I created a job for us in a separate outbuilding, we had 2 lathes 2 milling machines and a surface grinder. It improved downtime on the production line because we always checked the stores to see if they were short on parts and always made 2 or 3 off and it was the best job I had until the company closed unfortunately.
Ha, Like
Thanks !
Slow the speed down and double the cut depth
Thanks Union. Should I perhaps halve the speed/rpm calculation that the charts give me? I'll give it a go.
@@CraigsWorkshop The surface feet per minute ratings are ok as a guide. Pull the speed down 250-350 and put a deeper cut on. Experiment with your feed rate and chips will come, and not blue either
@@union310 oh, you are talking about the lathe, not the fly cutter? I was confused for a moment. I will try that, thanks.
@@CraigsWorkshop Sorry yes, when you made comment on finishes.
@@union310 ok, I get you now. Thank you for the advice. I will definitely give those a try and see what happens. 👍 Cheers, Craig
Where are the dimensions?
Sorry, I thought I mentioned those. I don't have formal plans for this fly cutter. But I'll try to relay the important dimensions here:
The round bar I start with is 75mm diameter, and just gets a clean up pass. The stem is to suit whatever collet you are using, mine is 20mm diameter, 40mm long. The angle across the end of the body is 10 degrees, and the slot is 12mm square + clearance, to suit a 12mm shank insert tool.
The other dimensions are not very important. Thanks!
@@CraigsWorkshop thank you sir
great showing mistakes. its how we learn
Thanks. Agreed!
Well, I think you're not a real machinist until you've made a flycutter. 😅
Wait - does that mean I am now ... a real one? 😂 🎉
Something is seriously wrong with that mill if its chattering and knocking with that size endmill
Hi. The chatter is from a few things. The workholding had a lot of stickout, and that never helps. Also I have a lot of slop in my spindle splines, which I hope to address in a future video. The other thing is there is some wear in the table ways/gibs, it is a 60 year old machine, and probably could be improved with an adjustment. Probably also needs scraping at some point to bring it back to as-new condition. Thanks for your comment.
who needs porn when you can watch a man handling his file 🤭
😂 thanks for the laugh 😁
Not easy to find a machine like this . To expensive
Yes machining is a very expensive hobby. Almost impossible for many people, I agree. If I couldn't get old/worn/broken machines for a low price, and fix them, I couldn't do this hobby at all. Thanks for the comment.
@@CraigsWorkshop yes its what i AM trying to do , i love to whatw a Maxine like this.
In my contrie There is a lot of old people who are in the closing theres chops after décades of work, whidwout continuasion of There s famílies or emploies.
But the problem is that are others who bye Eversing in the chopp, and wave a lot of Monet to do it .
And some inesperient , and pour, hobby guy like me dont nedd Eversing, ONLY one or two maxines.... And this bisesness mens have a bit Garage center with inúmeros similare marines , and sell them in the internet for the 5 Times or more the price they pay for them.
And the old maxines mens who are stoping now dont alow new people a single oportunity of learning
@@Rodrigues-xg3ln I get what you are saying, it really is not a very fair system 👎. Wealth imbalance is a problem in a lot of places, but yes some countries really have it tough. Good luck, I wish you all the best and hope you can find some machines to work on. Thanks for stopping by.
@@CraigsWorkshopi thanks you, for your videos. Dont stop making them. I love it them.
You obviously don’t love your lathe as much as most other TH-cam machining channels by not hugging the spindle when using a file.
😁 I learned to file left handed (I am right handed normally) soon after learning to use the lathe, and that was a very good idea 👍
your tram is off
Yes I know, it is a slight amount off.
One of the better machining videos on here. No extra fluff or acting. A good basic fly cutter nothing fancy! Does what you need it to! Keep it up. First video I’ve seen from you but will check others out
One of the better machining videos on here. No extra fluff or acting. A good basic fly cutter nothing fancy! Does what you need it to! Keep it up. First video I’ve seen from you but will check others out!
Thanks mate. I appreciate the nice comment. I have been a bit quiet on youtube recently, but I haven't given up. Just super busy with non-workshop things. I'll get back to it. Good to have you around. Cheers, Craig
Best of luck! This video was gold. Showed a couple mistakes and what to watch out for. Short and sweet. Your correct the other fly cutting videos I’ve seen are long and over engineered so you’re the only one so far keeping it simple.