What’s the largest face mill that can be utilized before loading issues? Is there a face mill program for base plate surfacing?
It depends on a few things.
Weight of the tool, cutting edges or inserts, depth of cut, and machine tram slightly.
I’d say you could run a 3" tool with upwards of 6 flutes, but you will need to keep the feed per tooth down and not take a big depth of cut. There isn’t a ton of torque to play with on these mills, but a pretty free cutter could still do ok in one I think.
I have run my home made fly cutter at 4" diameter and .020" depth of cut without much issue. That’s 1 insert and the machine is trammed within .0005" over 7 inches. I’d hesitate to take a 3" face mill deeper than .050" max per pass, for fear of stalling the spindle if nothing else.
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3"…wow. I was thinking just a 1" - 1 1/2" face mill. Something bigger than the 1/2" end mill used to face the base plate. Figure 1" would look better the the 100 1/2" passes and half the time.
Yeah, you’d have to get creative on the mounting. I have a modified shell mill arbor I use to mount a 2" mill every now and then. If I’m cutting any harder ductile or steel I will stick to 1" and under for material removal, then finish the faces with a fly cutter for a smooth finish. In all honesty I probably work this little mill harder than I should, but it hasn’t died yet 
The main thing would be to keep the spindle load low enough to not trip the drive. Light chip load and light depth of cut for sure.
I’ll run my 2" on soft ductile at 2200 rpm and feed around .003" per insert and depth of cut around .050" and it doesn’t bog. Depending on the mill you have and how free it cuts your mileage may vary though. I’d ease into it to be sure.
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