Parting is no longer such sweet sorrow.

On my 1440, I use a Shars .125" HSS parting blade and holder, in a BXA toolpost. I run 100-150 rpm, with about .0045 / rev feed on the cross slide. Just enough blade stick out to make the cut.
Thus far, from plastic to 2.5" 304, parting has been entirely drama free.
 
Savarin, here i can buy carbide insert parting blade tool and couple of boxes of inserts for that price, and for the hard steels i'm using carbide makes more sense, last insert cost me 2$ i already have over 100 partings with it and still cuts great and i have another fresh side on it, so in cost comparison carbide is the way to go.
 
savarin said:
27$ US and yes it is a lot but if it solves a heap of problems then I think its worth it.
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Hi Savarin,

Like you mentioned, costs a little more than you'd like to pay, but how much is your relief from the frustrations of parting worth? I have to admit to starting to throw money at stuff to make issues go away instead of dealing with cobbled up, wanna be "fixes". Just spend the money (I've always had good luck with Shars and have a couple of their T-shaped blades) and make the problems go away. Work on the project instead of working on the work-around for the project. No to belabor it, but it's been said many times over that you can always make more money, but you can't make more time. Great fix for your projects!

I've spent a fair amount on parting stuff; GTN-2 & GTN-3 tools, HSS with tapered sides and the Shars "T" shaped, MGMN bits, etc. I have no issues taking on a piece of 1 1/2" O1 or 304 in my lathes. Worth every penny for my options. I've recently been using the MGMN bits more because they work well and are dirt cheap. You can get 10 2-sided bits off eBay all day long form under $10. Usually go to the T shaped HSS or GTN-3 for larger stuff, always dust the HSS on the bench grinder before parting (Tom Griffin of Tom's Techniques tip).

Bruce
 
I have a 9 x 20 HFT lathe and have problems parting. I stiffened up the tool post as it had too much movement. Then I was extra fussy about being square in for the cut. Then I tried locking the way slide too eliminate any movement there. Tried different parting blades and grinding profiles. Setting the cutting height was addressed too. Saturating constantly with cutting oil helped a lot as did maintaining feed and rate. Didn't matter whether it was steel or aluminum. Anything over an inch I just used a hacksaw. I have seen the holders made for mounting on the cross slide so the parting tool has better support and the chips can fall out of the cut easier. I was going to try making one of those and trying it. The next easiest I would think would be to buy a lathe with more control and sturdiness. Thanks for the posts here and the links which I use.
 
When i first started i also had troubles with parting, broke the HSS parting blade 6-7 times until there was nothing left, but found out you need confidence, once you start feeding the cat you don't stop unless the sound changes you'll learn the sound when the tool starts to bind up i usually try once more sometimes continues sometime i need to make an relief cut and i never go to the bottom i leave 3-4 mm which i break by hand and you must be sure your work piece is very tight in the chuck, even the slightest movement will break you tool, hope this helps Doodle.
 
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