metalworking

How to Choose the Right Carbide Insert Nose Radius: 0.2, 0.4, 0.8 or 1.2 mm? One of the most overlooked details when choosing a carbide insert is the nose radius. Machinists often focus on insert shape, grade, coating, and chipbreaker. But the last two digits of an insert code can have a major...

Why Does My Carbide Insert Chip? 7 Common Causes and How to Fix Them Carbide inserts are designed to handle high cutting temperatures and maintain their cutting edge much longer than conventional high-speed steel tools. But many machinists eventually run into the same frustrating problem: The...

Introduction Choosing the right CNC cutting tool can be confusing, especially for beginners and even experienced machinists who are moving from HSS tools to modern carbide tooling. Every day, machinists ask similar questions: Which carbide insert should I use for steel? What does CNMG120408 or...

Machining long, thin stock on a lathe without a steady rest is one of the quickest ways to run into chatter, taper, and bent workpieces. When a shaft starts push-deflecting away from the tool, a lot of guys instinctively back off on the feed rate. Unfortunately, dropping your feed too low...

When roughing down raw bar stock on a lathe, the instinctive reaction for a lot of people is to take light depths of cut (DOC) at high spindle speeds to "protect" the insert or the machine. In reality, taking shallow passes at high RPM is often the fastest way to ruin a carbide insert. When...

When roughing down raw bar stock on a lathe, the instinctive reaction for a lot of people is to take light depths of cut (DOC) at high spindle speeds to "protect" the insert or the machine. In reality, taking shallow passes at high RPM is often the fastest way to ruin a carbide insert. When...

When cutting external threads on a lathe, one of the easiest ways to chip a carbide threading insert is feeding straight in on the X-axis (radial infeed). Plunging straight in forces both sides of the 60-degree threading insert to cut simultaneously. That creates massive cutting pressure, heavy...

Most of us were taught to flood the workpiece with coolant the moment the spindle starts spinning. While flood coolant is crucial for washing chips away and managing heat on aluminum or stainless, running full coolant on certain carbide operations can actually destroy your inserts prematurely...

If you've ever tried turning 6061 or 7075 aluminum with a standard steel-cutting carbide insert, you've probably seen the results: long ribbon chips, a torn surface finish, and a big lump of metal welded to your cutting edge. Steel inserts usually rely on thick PVD or CVD coatings and moderate...

A lot of guys stick exclusively to positive inserts (like CCMT or DCMT) when they start out because they take light cuts easily and don't load up smaller lathes. While positive inserts are great for low-rigidity setups, sticking only to positive tooling means you're leaving a lot of edge...

Nothing ruins a good turning pass faster than a long, dangerous nest of stringy chips wrapping around your workpiece or tool post. Besides being a nightmare to clean up, those razor-sharp bird's nests leave nasty scratches on your finished surface. If you are getting continuous stringy ribbon...

Hello, I just got a new grizzly micro lathe and was wondering what all might be needed for a "basic" setup. I plan to mostly do small projects, pens, rings, threads and so on. What tools would be best for setup and would come in handy? I'm coming from more of a 3D printing background, witch is...

I have a problem, I think. I am a newbie and I am still building my woodworking /metalworking workshop in my 1 car garage. I love vintage vises. I have quite a few, including old Columbian woodworking bench vises, and a couple of Wiltons, including a Buller vise :-). In my workshop, the...