Changing McFly Cutters

How To
1

I’ve spent a couple days with the McFly flattening some very old salvaged cherry. Very pretty. Since I’ve used it quite a bit, thought it might be a good idea to rotate the cutters. Maybe not my best idea. It became apparent that I could eaasily get one of the cutters slighly out of position when reinstallling it. I’m pretty sure that one of the vertical cutters rotated a bit when I was tightening its screw.

I’m not a machinist, nor do I have their tools, so how do I get the individual cutters positioned exactly as they should be?

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@NancynBob

I don’t have the McFly but one similar. There should be a reference shoulder for the cutter to keep its alignment?

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The two nearly horizontal inserts do have something with which to line up. I don’t see any such thing with the vertical inserts.

Switched to 1/2" bit and result is perfect.

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Here is a tip…Use a Sharpie marker and mark each used cutting edge so the next time you change the carbide to a new cutting edge you know which cutting edge has been used.

Anthony

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@NancynBob

Is it possible to make a small alignment jig to hold the cutters in alignment while tightening?

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Good question. I like the idea. What’s it look like?

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@NancynBob

Not sure, I haven’t made one yet!

I don’t have the McFly to use to measure and fab one up. However, it could be as easy as cutting out a “fork” (Think open end wrench) to hold the cutter while tightening.

You really just need to be able to hold the cutter in place without cutting yourself while keeping the alignment straight.

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