Borite Carbide boring bars, are they any good?

[Ken from ontario]

Many thanks to each and everyone of you for your comments,I learned something from your comments, as I mentioned I don't have much experience with boring with a milling machine, (did some production work on a lathe years ago) and never owned a boring head/bars before but one thing I did promise myself when I started accumulating tools for this hobby and that was/is to buy better than average quality cutting tools from the get go, based on Mike and Doubleeboy's positive reviews, the two boring bars (Mesa tool/Borite) sounds like to be two good purchases but I still would like to try the import carbide set that are like 9 per set just to have around but also to see for myself what the difference is in their performance.

 

[Doubleeboy]

Ken, I can almost guarantee you that the import cheap boring bars no matter if they are HSS or brazed carbide will need profiling and sharpening. If you are comfortable with that , no problem, if sharpening is a challenge for you, you would be happier with inserts or the Micro 100 preformed and sharpened bars. As long as you don't nick one the them up you should be able to touch it up with diamond hand held hone.

 

[Ken from ontario]

Ken, I can almost guarantee you that the import cheap boring bars no matter if they are HSS or brazed carbide will need profiling and sharpening. If you are comfortable with that , no problem, if sharpening is a challenge for you, you would be happier with inserts or the Micro 100 preformed and sharpened bars. As long as you don't nick one the them up you should be able to touch it up with diamond hand held hone.

Well, I sharpen my own drill bits ,have been doing that for years (and my woodworking planes, chisels.etc.). I do understand the rake angle and in general ,the cutting tool geometry but I have never sharpened anything like a boring bar or fly cutter but I think I can manage without too much difficulty. however, I'm already in love with inserts/indexable cutting tools,let me find out more about Micro 100 bars ,you and Mike got me curious.

 

[pstemari]

If you like insert boring bars Maritool makes some nice ones, both in steel and carbide. I have the steel ones and they do a great job. I can go down under 1/2" diameter with them.

Note: the bushings in the photo are shop-made.



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[Ken from ontario]

If you like insert boring bars Maritool makes some nice ones, both in steel and carbide. I have the steel ones and they do a great job. I can go down under 1/2" diameter with them.

Note: the bushings in the photo are shop-made.

View attachment 227718

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the link ,great job on the shop made bushings ,they look well built.
I have read a few praises on the quality of Maritool cutting tools before, I would get the 1/4" bar if they sold the bushings for it ,unfortunately I don't have a lathe to make the reducers myself but I think I have router bit bushing that might work.just thinking outloud.

 

[mikey]

Ken, my friend, you have revealed a stunning deficiency - NO LATHE - say it ain't so! This is on the order of Lennon without McCartney or Skywalker without Yoda ... being lathe-less is just not going to work! Better to be mill-less than lathe-less. We, the entire HM community, are now sending vibes to Canada to entice a lathe to find you so that you can become whole ... AMEN!!

 

[Ken from ontario]

Ken, my friend, you have revealed a stunning deficiency - NO LATHE - say it ain't so! This is on the order of Lennon without McCartney or Skywalker without Yoda ... being lathe-less is just not going to work! Better to be mill-less than lathe-less. We, the entire HM community, are now sending vibes to Canada to entice a lathe to find you so that you can become whole ... AMEN!!

Amen to that,don't forget I'm left handed, we do things bass ackward.
You can imagine how often I've hit the wall and grind to a halt on almost every project I've started.
I am planing on getting rid of some of my woodworking tools to open up some space for a small Southbend lathe.

 

[Alan H.]

Ken, late reply cause I just read this! Never, ever get rid of tools. Stack em up, take a car out of the garage, rent a storage building, . . . .
But never give up a tool.

Just kidding cause I have the same problem now. Move a new one in and an old one out.

 

[Ken from ontario]

Ken, late reply cause I just read this! Never, ever get rid of tools. Stack em up, take a car out of the garage, rent a storage building, . . . .
But never give up a tool.

Just kidding cause I have the same problem now. Move a new one in and an old one out.

I'm thinking of getting a pre-fab storage shed for the tools .

 

[darkzero]

unfortunately I don't have a lathe

We all know that will change but in the mean time you could always use the mill to machine like a lathe. It's about as limited as it is milling on a lathe (possibly more) but it can be done & people do it.