The "Bog Standard"

[Omnimill]

I've not used fly cutters that much in the past, and can't say I've really been disappointed with the finish but following a tip from Bogs in another post on how to sharpen a Fly cutter bit I thought I'd give it a try.
Difficult to photograph to do it justice but the finish is very, very good Bogs :bow: I sharpen most of my tools on a belt and disc sander and it was a breeze to profile.

Vic.

 

[Blogwitch]

Glad it worked OK for you Vic.

There is no secret to getting a good finish, a curved profile to a lathe tool will usually give mirror finishes as well.

The only criteria is it needs to be very sharp. I usually use a fine Arkansas stone to keen the edges up.

John

 

[Omnimill]

Yes, I've used a round nosed tool for fine finishes on the Lathe John, but never thought of using it on a Fly cutter! :wall:

Vic.

 

[Twmaster]

Vic,

Could you snap a pic of the back of that tool tip?

I've tried to grind a cutter like that. For some reason I can never, EVER get a cut that does not look like Arse.

 

[Omnimill]

Here you go Mike:

Front

Back

Top

Bottom

End

If you need any more help let me know.

Vic.

 

[Blogwitch]

I would just like to add a little to describe something that is not instantly obvious in Vic's pictures.

If you look at the direction of the grinding marks, Vic has got it spot on.

When grinding any tooling, you should always, if you can, get the grind marks going in the same direction as the cut, not across it. It is the same when you hand finish the edges, always do it in the cutting direction.
It is even more important when grinding tungsten tooling, as if you grind across the direction of the cut, the tungsten is liable to delaminate along the marks, and so chip off the edges.

Lovely work Vic.


John

 

[Twmaster]

Vic, thank you. That is the best visual representation I've seen yet.

Bogs, thank you as well. I had not considered the direction of the grind.

Thanks a lot!