Need some help on lathe tooling.

Jim_cellarshop

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Hi, well I finally got a lathe, SB 10L 24"cc large dial, large spindle. My smart phone/camera is taking stupid (out of focus) pics, will post when I get it fixed. Most of the lathe is in my basement, I hope to have it back together in a week or two and I am trying to be ready when I do. My first couple of projects (& playing) will be from 1018, & drill rod, later I will be using 4140, 8160 & several grades of stainless. I have a lantern holder & bought a KRF omni post. I have a bench grinder, somewhere in a box.. & not much room to set it up. I did buy a couple pieces of HSS but for now I would like to avoid grinding. The few times I have worked w/ inserts they needed a lot of HP & seem to not be sharp. Are there HSS inserts I could buy?, how do they work? Should i just try some insert holders & carbide? Would one of these tanginal holders reduce the need for sharpening skills? I am a machine automation guy, not a machinist (which end of the file do I hold?) just kinda kidding. People here helped a lot w/ selection of a lathe, thanks again. Now I am getting close to making my own chips! Thanks Jim
 
Hey, Thanks Bill. That looks like it will work great! I have a set on order. Now I just need to carry the rest of the lathe downstairs, wire it & get it set up. Getting closer every day, Thanks :)
 
Hi Jim

Sounds like your working with a variety of materials here. I can say the tangential tool holder will make shapening your HSS easy. As you probably allready know your only doing one angle, so its quick to resharpen . HSS inserts, Ive used them, and like them but can,t allways find them local to me.

What I would suggest for you is the brazed carbide tooling. These are very cheaply priced, you can touch them up with a grinder, just like HSS. For most general work, I still use these, and have for yrs. The inserts are popular these days, and I use them to, but chip a insert, and its pretty much done.

Even on a smaller , lower powered machine, I would still use the brazed carbide tooling. They dont chip nearly as easy as the insert type, and touch up on the grinder very easy. HSS is fine for many materials, but I find its better for finish cuts with light depth of cuts. Softer stuff like aluminum is also fine with HSS, but stainless is another issue.

I know many guys will say, have you seen the size of that guys lathe? Well I didnt allways have a big lathe, so I can say its not allways about the HP. I can allso say that I use carbide insert tooling, brazed carbide tooling, and my machine can be cranked up to hi RPM, but seldom do it.

Its a double edged sword really. The guys with small machines sometimes say, I cant run that, I dont have the HP. Others will say, I cant run that, I dont have the RPM.
If your finding a issue with one over the other, atleast try the brazed carbide tooling, they are available in different grades, and work well on most any thing and everthing I throw at them. And they are cheap/ re sharpenable too.
 
2X the brazed carbide. I have only 1HP and use inserts and brazed carbide mostly. GP I just use the cheap import after touching them up on an SC wheel.The right inserts do very well at a mere 570rpm which is pretty much where I leave my lathe unless I have to change it.

Steve
 
Thanks for the info, I copied it to my ref directory. I will try the brazed carbide, the set of insert holders I bought should also hold carbide, may try them eventually. To start I have some simple projects I need to get done, thumb nuts (knulled maybe), pilots, mini chisles, and a few special sized washers & spacers to finish out older projects. Further down on my list are some items that will have interupted cuts. So for general purpose I wanted to start w/ HSS. The stainless projects are for camera lens mounts & watch cases, these will come later on when (if) I can learn the skills to make them. Are brazed carbide more resistant to chipping than inserts? Can they handle interupted cuts? It sounds like they may be a good choice for stainless. I have looked at the tangential tool holders and downloaded a couple of plans, but I will have to design a body to be compatable with my tool post (or maybe make a heavy holder to replace the tool post), but for now I am trying to stay focused on getting my backlog of projects done. I have a habit of sometimes spending more time working on the tools than the project :) Thanks! Jim.
 
I use c2 grade on nonferrous and interrupted cuts. Works good even on fly cutters. Inserts on interrupted cuts really depends on the insert and they are legion. I use a tcmt insert on my homemade 60° dovetail cutter (for the mill) and it works like a flycutter with only one insert.

Turning hex I don't consider interrupted, as there is no real 90° angle to run into. I have some alloy shafting from scrap that is tough so carbide is the only answer and the 1/2 keyway causes no problem with c6 or inserts in general.

Steve
 
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