MetalworkingFun Forum

I’m trying to clean up/square up a piece of cast iron cut from a John Deere tractor weight. My 4x6 band saw cuts it easily, but nothing in the mill will get through the skin. I’ve tried fly cutters and end mills.
The skin is rubbing the cutting edge off the fly cutter. ½” mill cutter stalls the mill (belt drive).
Mill is an x2 with DRO/tach. What am I doing wrong?
Chuck

You might need to take an angle grinder to it to get through the skin. But I don't know much about cast iron so take it for what it's worth.

Ed

like Ed said take a grinder to it if its not to large.

switch to a fly cutter with a HSS bit with very little rake so you have a good stout cutting point low RPM and if you can go completely thru the skin in one pass.

Skins the toughest part but some castings have pretty thick skin, being what it is I'm supprised your bandsaw cut it without wearing the teeth off the blade.

If I remember right they use the pig iron in the weights, the pig being the 1st iron pour tends a poor quality iron also does not get the inoculated with ferro-silicate compound.

This is one area where carbide insert face mills excel! I have three of them now, having sold the biggest 4" one to Wrustle.

How much spindle power does a Seig X2 actually have and at what speed range? What is the spindle adaptation, R8, NMTB30, or ER collets?

Can you use something like the 1-1/2" one at the right hand side of this photo? It's a 3/4" Weldon shank.

Chuck, just follow Harold's recommendations on that "other" forum.

It's a very rare day that you'll ever see High Speed Harold suggest a carbide insert solution.

(08-04-2013, 06:33 PM)PixMan Wrote: [ -> ]It's a very rare day that you'll ever see High Speed Harold suggest a carbide insert solution.

I'll try the angle grinder. I don't have any carbide tooling for my mill.
My X2 is currently running a 1.5 hp treadmill motor, R8 spindle.
Carbide router bits was suggested on another forum.

Chuck

Chuck,

If you'd be willing to find and buy an R8 shell mill adapter with a 1" pilot diameter, I've got a 2" 5-indert shoulder/face mill that I could sell you for $50. It's sold by MariTool, though I believe it's a Mitsubishi cutter. It takes APMT160508 inserts, available from MariTool, Mitsubishi and Nachi to name a few. There are 5 inserts in it now, just three spare new ones of a different grade.

While unusual to find a 2" cutter with a 1" bore (most are 3/4"), the cutter should work well for this and a number of other applications. I could drop it in the mail to you today before I leave town, you could pay me however you want when it's convenient for you. E-Mail me to work things out.

BTW, those cutters in my photo (and many more) were all used on a lowly 1HP Bridgeport without any problems.

Here's a link to a cheap but usable R8 to 1" shell mill adapter:

http://www.shars.com/products/view/746/1...Mill_Arbor