FC3 TC3 What does this mean

[WannabewelderParticipant @wannabewelder]

Hi

I’m new on the site so please excuse the “idiot” question, but first of all an introduction.

I’ve just acquired a 9×20 Chinese lathe and I’m hoping to put it to good use in the not too distant future.

I’m of an age when doing metalwork at school really meant doing metalwork, but I haven’t touched a metal turning lathe since my apprenticeship when I had to do basic craft training. Since then I’ve been more involved with the paper side of electronic engineering but, having recently been made redundant, I’m hoping to develop other interests.

Now the question:

I see references to milling cutters – usually end mills – with either FC3 or TC3 as part of the description. What exactly does this mean? Is it a standard for how the cutter should be secured, a description of the material from which the cutter is made or something completely different?

I have searched for this both on this site and the web in general and I can’t find anything!

 

Regards

 

Wannabe

[WannabewelderParticipant @wannabewelder]

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

FC3 denotes what is called a Throw away cutter.

In that they are that cheap it doesn’t pay to regrind.

They usually all have the same shank diameter either 1/4 for imperial or 6mm for metric and a flat on the side so they can be held in FC3 holders.

These usually have an extended nose so you can get into tight spaces. nothing to stop you holding in collets but with being short cutters you may be limited on space.

 

Not quite certain what TC3 is, could be a differnt name by another company or some variation.

 

FC3 cutters

 

Decent page here.

To further muddy the waters you can get short series, long series and ball nosed.

 

John S.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

John ha scovered most of it, they are a good general purpose cutter if you are starting off, The Hertel ones from J&L are often on special offer in their monthly flyers. At £2-3 a time its not worth having them sharpened thats why they are refered to as throwaway, its not theat they are cheap quality.

 

They also do 10mm,12mm and 3/8″ shank so you are not limited to smaller size cutters.

 

J

[NEIL SMITH 1Participant @neilsmith1]

TC=Titanium Coated.

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

I’ve never thrown away a throw away cutter yet – the day will come I suppose, but as a hobby user they get 1% of the hammer they would in a real shop. The other thing is that I’ve only used easier cutting steels and alloys, no really hard stuff, so again they last and last in my shed. So I do find them good value.

 

Steve

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

We spent over an hour gettin g to a ‘giant’ boot sale and market near Matlock last weekend. Paid 1.40 for parking… and there were about 20 stalls!

 

Unusually there was a chap with a lot of small tooling (ex industry), but nearly all used. I just picked up a Dormer BS2 centre drill for £1.50, but he wanted £2 for used (and mostly pretty blunt) FC3 cutters! I could have got some to sharpen at home, but a new one for £3 cuts better.

 

But look out for the chap who sells Peatol Lathes at the shows, he has used but properly resharpened FC3 and other cutters at a fair price (although he will warn you they may not be 100% specced size).

 

Tip for sharpening really small cutters… just grind across the end at about10 degrees to turn it into a single point cutter, and take it easy with the feed rate – a lifesaver when you snap your last 1/mm cutter

 

Neil

[WannabewelderParticipant @wannabewelder]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

I’ve been reading a couple of the Workshop Practise books and there’s some info in there which I hadn’t spotted before.

I’d still like to know what’s “behind” the name.

TC makes sense as titanium coated – would that be the titanium nitride that’s available on drills??

But why FC3 — Fiddly Cutter3 or something ruder? There must be a meaning behind it surely.

Anyway, thanks for all the helpful posts.

It probably won’t be the last of the “idiot” questions though……

 

Regards

 

Wannabe

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