School me on using annular cutters in my milling machine

[Bented]

Quite simple really.
Find the part position in X and Y, move to the hole position.
Place Annular cutter in the spindle and produce hole.

[oxford]

In my opinion, the pins for annular cutters are really only good enough for fab work when lining up with a punch mark. If you take your time and are very careful you can get pretty close but there really is too much slop in them.

They are good for ejecting the slug though and while others haven’t, I usually have slugs hang up when I don’t have one in. It’s not usually hard to get out but you do need to stop the spindle and fiddle with it.

[DR]

The cutter thread is a 4 start, never had one slip and they center up perfectly every time.

JL.................

Hmmm... 4 start thread in the cutters? While mine look to be exactly like yours mine have a standard fine thread on the shanks. You can use a bolt as a replacement except the factory shanks have flats to tighten them. The factory shanks don't have the three grip flats on the shanks either. But I have ground grip flats.

I've pretty much given up on mine for use on metal. Great for plastics and wood though. Maybe one of these days I'll try to alter the grind on the teeth as someone mentioned.

[JoeLee]

Hmmm... 4 start thread in the cutters? While mine look to be exactly like yours mine have a standard fine thread on the shanks. You can use a bolt as a replacement except the factory shanks have flats to tighten them. The factory shanks don't have the three grip flats on the shanks either. But I have ground grip flats.

I've pretty much given up on mine for use on metal. Great for plastics and wood though. Maybe one of these days I'll try to alter the grind on the teeth as someone mentioned.

Yes, there are 4 starts on the arbor, they call it a quad thread.



They cut fine, perfectly consistent holes, just takes a long time. I'm going to try dusting off some of the teeth about .003 leaving 4 to cut and the ones I grind will keep the cutter from digging in too deep and snagging. That should reduce the amount of force needed to cut and hopefully the chatter and squealing.

JL...................

[Bented]

Yes, there are 4 starts on the arbor, they call it a quad thread.

How cute that is (-:

[Tundra Twin Track]

Depending on Brand of cutter some have common dimensions internally,I machined a damaged roller shaft that would not fit my lathe.The damaged 1-1/4” shaft was machined down 1-1/8” with nice snug fit for the bearing.

[brian Rupnow]

The three R8 shanks came yesterday. The other two annular cutters are supposed to come later this week. they surely look "spiffy".

[Tundra Twin Track]

You will really like those Brian,on similar holders I machined the Nose back to allow the shank of the cutter to go in deeper so set screws can grab Flat on shank.I also machined a bevel on set screws as some Flats on shank vary in size depending on Brand,I’ve got 6 different Brands and seem to Vary in size.The setscrews on a actually Annular Holder are much smaller than the End Mill Holder in the Pic.

[brian Rupnow]

Tundra--I realized yesterday that I had ordered the wrong holders. I sent the three holders back and ordered one of the correct holders for the annular cutters.

[true temper]

Those would have worked just fine with a bit of modification

[brian Rupnow]

So, after a bit of confusion (on my part), the wrong R8 collets have been returned and the correct R8 collet to hold these 3/4" Weldon shank annular cutters has been received, mounted in my mill, and a hole cut thru 1" aluminum plate. The "core" that is cut from the plate is setting on top of the plate. The hole was cut in "Low range" at 300 rpm. with lots of squirt on cutting oil. I did get the "birds-nest" of aluminum swarf which has been cleared away to take this picture. They make a beautiful smooth cut, and the milling machine doesn't sound like it is working very hard to make the hole. I am very satisfied. The annular cutters cost about $30 each. I may buy a couple more different sizes---don't know yet.

[nickel-city-fab]

How was the "feel" on the down feed? I've never used them on aluminum, only on mild steel.

[oxford]

How was the "feel" on the down feed? I've never used them on aluminum, only on mild steel.

From what I’ve seen, not much difference.

[brian Rupnow]

I've never used one on steel, but on aluminum there wasn't a great deal of pressure used on the feed handles. Today was the first time I've used one in my life.

[nickel-city-fab]

Looks like you got a great finish anyway -- annular cutters are pretty good for that. I was even wondering about using larger ones for fly-cutting or for facing cuts. Like a real big shell end mill. But maybe thats not a good idea, I'd have to try it.