Thread: Lining up for vertical Milling

Originally Posted by BaronJ

Hi Phill,

Clamp a piece of suitably ground HSS in the four jaw ! Just watch out that the jaw edges don't catch anywhere.

That's an idea that hadn't occurred to me John. Any suggestions as to what shape would do the trick? Perhaps a rounded nose for a good finish? (cast iron)

Hi Phill,

Yes that is the shape I use, unless I'm going for a square face or a dovetail.

New_Flycutter-2.JPG New_Flycutter-3.JPG New_Flycutter-1.JPG

These are three pictures of my go to general purpose fly cutter. As you can see the toolbit is round ended. It has a 20 mm diameter shaft and I use it on both the mill and lathe. It is particularly good on cast iron, because of its rigidity.

Originally Posted by BaronJ

Hi Phill,

Yes that is the shape I use, unless I'm going for a square face or a dovetail.

These are three pictures of my go to general purpose fly cutter. As you can see the toolbit is round ended. It has a 20 mm diameter shaft and I use it on both the mill and lathe. It is particularly good on cast iron, because of its rigidity.

Thanks John, I'll have a crack at it over the weekend. Cheers.

Hi Phill,

It might be better to just use a piece of steel and drill a hole in it to hold a bit of HSS like in the pictures. It doesn't have to be round, anything that you can clamp in the four jaw that can be adjusted to give the radius cut that you need.

The knowledge.
The skill.
The license to ill.

John, I couldn't get the 4-jaw to work on its own, so inspired by your pics, I made up a little tool to go on the thing I use as a face-plate.
It is working a treat, one more pass to go tomorrow, and I'll dismount the vertical sled & see how it went. I have to say that making square holes in steel is not a lot of fun

Lathe fly cutter in action..jpg

Lathe Fly cutter 1.jpg

Hi Phill,

Well done

I would have just drilled a round hole and used the square HSS material in the hole. Too much like hard work filing a square hole.