OCTOMILL SECO 80mm

..BEST TOOL!!

I got the octomill on ebay for 80 gbp, with 10 inserts included (10 cast iron inserts).

After few weeks I had to upgrade to some some hard allround inserts to extend the range of applications, and I chose the T25M (85 gbp , box of ten!!)

This Face cutter is a really good toy that makes super flat surfaces.  I had to make my own arbor for it and probably I've done a good combination because the arbor is less then 0.01mm precise and this makes the cutter to run quite precise to... (photo shows beginning of the arbor project). I have to modified also the two black small blocks that goes screwed on the bottom of the spindle to "run" the cutter.

A good splash system is required because a mess is guaranteed running at 2000 rpm whilst using a coolant system!!

it is quite important for me to adjust all the six cutters at the same height, to do this is simple but requires some time to spend fixing the dti on the vice and then playing few minutes with allen keys until a 0.01mm precision is achieved.

I downloaded the SECO CUT software from the secotools website. This software is really helpful to find the right speed RPM, choosing few parameters as depth of cut, width of cut, type of material etc. It seems that with the octomill speeds as 1000 or 5000 rpm must be used all the times. Unfortunately the X3 sieg comes with a 100 to 2000 rpm speed range that seems to be to slow for the seco cutter.  Also few Kw are required to machine large parts with more tht 0,5mm of cut. The sieg, again, has only 0.8 kw that are not what required from the SECO cut software (some of the machining requires 10 kw!!!)

I really understood that this cutter is not a toy. this cutter is a professional cutter that requires high end machines with 10Kw of power or more.

I was sad after reading that, but after few test I understood that the power is required only if the depth of cut is massive (2 or more mm). I can use the octmill with the sieg if I keep the depth of cut below 0.5mm for steel and 2 mm for aluminum.

These are few parts machined with the octomill..

(acetal and aluminum)

This tool is so special for me that I choose to dedicate it (he) a page..!!