Advice on lathe for home shop

[Aaron_W]

I am glad you did that Aaron. I knew those threads were in here but I was too lazy to look for them. LOL.

They are stickied in the beginners forum if you ever need to find them.

 

[GSweldmech]

When you say you have a grinder for sharpening tungsten, are you talking about TIG electrodes? If so you won't want to share sharpening jobs with that, it will contaminate the tungsten.

That’s exactly what I meant, I guess I thought it went without saying in regards to not contaminating my tungsten wheel. There’s a fine stone on one side of that grinder that I use for tungsten only and The other side has a wire wheel that I use very little. I have a 6X48 belt/ 12” disc combo unit that I do the majority of my general metal shaping work on. I guess I’d use that to shape regular HSS tools on if that’s the direction I choose. I’m leaning towards the indexable tools because I have never been very adept at sharpening the regular HSS tool blanks and I thought it would be simpler to screw a new insert on the holder and get back to work than repeatedly trying to get a cutter that does the job I want it to.

Thanks for the links, I’m working the search function here and on other forums and I’m still pretty confused. I had thought about starting a separate thread , thanks for confirming my suspicions.

 

[projectnut]

Personally I would go with standard HSS tool blanks, or some with cobalt if you intend to cut tougher materials. You don't need a larger grinder unless you plan to regularly use sizes above 1/2". I think you'll find learning to sharpening them isn't that difficult. It might take a few tries, but there's not that great a learning curve. HSS tool blanks are the most versatile and economical cutting tools available. Each tool can have 2 cutting profiles at any time, and can be changed at will.

While at the machine dealer ask if he'll throw in a handful of blanks with the machine. Most machine dealers have piles of them that came with the machines. They don't have to be new, just long enough to hold in your hand while sharpening them. I use sizes from 1/4" through 3/4" on my 13" machine. I only have the sizes above 1/2" because they came as part of the contents of machinists tool boxes. They don't get used often, and frankly I wouldn't miss them if I didn't already have them.

I find the go to sizes are 5/16", 3/8" and 7/16". I didn't even know 7/16" was a size until I found a box of them at a local machinery dealer. For some reason they've become the size I use most. When you consider a HSS blank generally starts out about 2 1/2" to 3" long they can probably be resharpened hundreds of times to the original profile before they're worn to the point they can't be sharpened any more. I don't know if or how many times HSS inserts can be sharpened, but I do know carbide inserts are certainly limited if you happen to chip them. Your belt/disk sander will be more than sufficient for sharpening the HSS tooling. That's what I've been using for the last 20 years. It only takes a few minutes to make a profile from a new blank, and only seconds to touch up an existing one.

Insert tooling is convenient and quick to change. That's primarily why production shops have switched to it. However it is outrageously expensive when compared to tool blanks. When time is money it's the way to go, but in the hobby world it's a good way to lighten your pocket book. I have several friends that are still in the machining business. They run small repair and fabrication shops, not high production shops. They all use some variation of HSS as their primary cutting tools. They do have some carbide on hand as they do deal in a variety of materials, and some just can't be cut easily with HSS.

As for tool holders I would think around a dozen or so would be more than sufficient to start with. Make sure you include a boring bar holder and parting tool holder in the bunch. I know there are some on this forum that won't buy anything other than top of the line. Personally I've found Phase II and Shars work just as well and at a fraction of the cost. One caveat on the Phase II and Shars tooling. The oldest tool holders and QCTP are well over 20 years old. The newest are around 5 years old. I can't speak for anything made since about 2016.

 

[Aaron_W]

That’s exactly what I meant, I guess I thought it went without saying in regards to not contaminating my tungsten wheel.

No it was, I just restate the obvious, to help eliminate misunderstandings.

 

[GSweldmech]

I’ll probably start with whatever the dealer can toss into the deal. Learning to deal with HSS is probably the right thing to do but it’s an investment in time that never seems available when you need to machine something in the lathe. When I was assigned on this one particular ship we used to have a guy regularly come sail with us during the summers. His dad had a machine shop and he grew up around machining. Before his time on the ship was up I’d always have him sharpen up a bunch of tools for me that I’d stash in my office so that when I needed to do something with a degree of precision I’d have a tool I didn’t have to argue with. This is why I’m leaning towards the indexable stuff, I hate arguing with the tools to get a thread profile correct or a surface finish that’s acceptable. I was looking at an accusize set last night on eBay or Amazon, it’s around 100 clams, there’s 7 holders and they use 4 different styles of inserts. whats The general consensus on accusize products?

 

[GSweldmech]

I did the deal on the Harrison, when we dragged it from the storage building next door to the dealers main building I kept finding stuff that went with the lathe, I ended up with the lathe,(filthy but functional, three days of cleaning to get it where I’m happy with it) a three jaw, a four jaw, a follow rest , a steady rest, a new shars quick change tool post and one holder, a drill chuck for the tail stock and an attachment that might be a cross feed stop. I’ve got to move a bunch of stuff around in the shop so I can slide it to the back by the milling machine where it will get less contaminates from the welding and grinding etc. that happen in the shop. All in all I’m happy with the deal, it is going to be a good fit, it’s big enough with out hogging a ton of floor space. It’s in decent shape and if needed parts are available and my local guy has a parts machine if new parts are priced too high. Tomorrow I’m going to get it into it’s final position and hopefully mill the base of the tool post to fit the Tee slot .

 

[7milesup]

Nice! Congrats. Looks like a good machine.

 

[DavidR8]

Whats The general consensus on accusize products?

I’ve had very good experiences with Accusize products.
My 5C collets are from them and they are dead accurate.

Congratulations on your new lathe! Beauty machine there

 

[Mgdoug3]

Congrats on the lathe. Since I've gotten the bigger lathe I don't use my 10" as much. I think a 13" is a happy medium. Big enough for most jobs and small enough that it doesn't take up much space.

I only have one quick change tool post for the big lathe and I miss having multiple ones. I have 1/2" to 1" bits and I'm constantly resetting the height. I have a line on extra ones so I haven't bought any yet.

 

[7milesup]

I have heard decent reviews on Bostar, so just ordered a BXA tool post and holders from eBay. About $180 for the tool post and 7 holders. I know the tool post is not Aloris quality, but most guys seem very happy with the Bostar. YMMV