Milling on Tool Steel?

[erikmannie]

I have a 1 HP benchtop mill, and I bought a cutting tool for my benchtop lathe which is too tall to fit in my AXA QCTP.

The cutting tool is a Shars brand 1” tall brazed carbide parting tool that I would like to mill down to 5/8” tall.

I have used my mill to cut mild steel, and it does just okay. I use a maximum .015-.020” DOC.

Should I attempt to mill down this lathe cutting tool, or ship it back for a refund? It would cost about $4 to ship it back in order to get a $9 refund.

At this point, the material is unknown. I don’t know if a brazed carbide cut off tool would be HSS, tool steel or something else.

One also wonders if reducing the height of the parting tool by 32.5% would render it to be an unsafe tool. I like this cutting tool, and they don’t make one small enough for my AXA tool holder.

 

[mmcmdl]

Make an adapter . I have a slew of them making larger tools usable in an AXA holder .

 

[erikmannie]

Make an adapter . I have a slew of them making larger tools usable in an AXA holder .

I didn’t think of that. I don’t have a design in mind. Would you be willing to upload a picture? If not, I can Google it.

 

[mmcmdl]

Would you be willing to upload a picture?

I certainly will . In at work for 12 more hours then will load some pics tomorrow .

 

[Cadillac]

Make an adapter . I have a slew of them making larger tools usable in an AXA holder .

The largest I've seen on a axa is 3/4 and now thinking I might be confusing my bxa maybe 5/8. That's half the problem! Trying to get a 1" tool centerline on a lathe that uses a axa is gonna be the bigger issue. Maybe a picture of the tool would help to see righty of design?

 

[mmcmdl]

The adaptors hang down below the corner of your compound , so depending on where you dimension the slot to the mounting boss will determin c/l height .

 

[erikmannie]

The largest I've seen on a axa is 3/4 and now thinking I might be confusing my bxa maybe 5/8. That's half the problem! Trying to get a 1" tool centerline on a lathe that uses a axa is gonna be the bigger issue. Maybe a picture of the tool would help to see righty of design?

My AXA (example PN of tool holder 250-101) has a maximum height of 5/8".

Here are pictures of this parting tool that is 1" high:

 

[mmcmdl]

Piece of cake . Either mill the bottom or make the adapter to drop the tool as I said . Is this being used as a parting tool ? 1/8" is pretty wide for an AXA post and lathe . You may just want to look up a ThinBit or Iscar insert parting tool .

 

[erikmannie]

Piece of cake . Either mill the bottom or make the adapter to drop the tool as I said . Is this being used as a parting tool ? 1/8" is pretty wide for an AXA post and lathe . You may just want to look up a ThinBit or Iscar insert parting tool .

I was also thinking how wide this cutting tool is; I would never use this on steel. My normal parting blades are blade type and they are half that width.

I would still be interested in making an adapter that accommodates 1" tool bits and using this 1" tool bit for brass.

Speaking of parting steel, I often get my HSS blade type parting blade caught in the workpiece, and I have to quickly turn off the lathe and back out the parting tool. This happens even though (1) I sharpen the tool before each job, (2) I am going in as slowly and steadily as I can manage, (3) I am as close to the chuck as possible (like 1/8" clearance), (4) I calculate my RPMs, and (5) everything is tightened down. Is this harmful for the motor? At machining school, we had large old machines and you could go in much faster, and I certainly never stalled the machine. I can't imagine what I am doing wrong.

 

[erikmannie]

As for the material of the shank of this cutting tool, McMaster Carr uses ground steel for their tool bits. I wonder what Shars uses. I would in a position to do a spark test if I were to mill it down (or email Shars).