Is anyone familiar with Oscarbide?

J

Jake M

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I'm looking for insert holders for a South Bend 9A. I have a harbor freight set, and while they do work, they are what they are. Inserts don't fit well, and tend to crack even when I don't screw something up. And there's just enough clearance between the insert and the "back wall" that the inserts "twist" when I go from turning to facing or vice versa. Awesome when you're trying to hit dimensions, not that I really am making things that fussy... The originals, and some Amazon replacements act the same, so I'm sure it's the holders. Probably the inserts too, but the holders I'm sure are poorly toleranced. I stumbled on this set which entertains me a lot, but I can't find any tangible amount of discussion about the kit or the brand.


I like the size, as 1/4 or 3/8 are my plausible options, which kinda makes 3/8 my favorite option. Harbor Freight doesn't offer that. I like the tool holder selection, as it looks like it'll cover "most" anything I might want to do with them. I like the inserts, as they look like the geometry and radii that (on paper) I think I'm looking for, and they're readily available. I like the price point, which is NOT top shelf (dirt cheap on a per piece basis) but at least out of the toilet. I don't like that at least one of the inserts, the trigon, is only available from them, although they do seem readily available. I havn't looked at the parting/grooving insert yet. I don't like that I can't find many people using them. Since I'm not even sure what I want or need, so I don't want to go "top shelf" for a lifetime investment at this time. Has anyone used these enough to comment as to whether the value of this set matches up with the price point? (Tool for tool, three times the cost of the Harbor Freight collection, and 1/7 the cost of a single "good" holder?).
 
i bought many different holders from all price ranges, all will have strengths and weaknesses

for moderate machining, you'll be ok with the set
 
You might want to try high speed steel and grind your own. It’s not hard. One of the members here posted an excellent series on how to grind a tool bit.
 
Nutfarmer said:
You might want to try high speed steel and grind your own. It’s not hard. One of the members here posted an excellent series on how to grind a tool bit.
Click to expand...


I actually prefer to use high speed steel. I don't mind the grinding, my lathe likes it better, and I'll probably have to put a bag over my head, but I actually prefer using the rocker tool post to present the tool, which in turn makes it easier and faster to grind the tools, and especially to sharpen the tools, because of the built in tool holder geometry does half of the work for you.

My trouble is that I can get (some) free material. It comes from hydraulic equipment. Rods, pins, pistons, glands... Some of these are fine with HSS. Some of those alloys weren't even invented until long after HSS was abandoned from commercial manufacturing, and a lot of times there's selective hardening going on. HSS works better, until it doesn't work at all.
 
Induction hardened cylinder rod is not really machinable with HSS until you get under the hard part, then it machines nicely
 
The set on Amazon is similar to the tooling I have bought off eBay and Aliexpress for my Heavy 10. I have been very happy with all of it, well made and properly hardened. Head and shoulders above the sets that HF sells, which I assume is this one. Pay no attention to the Oscarbide name, it means nothing.

1656340018754.png
 
MrWhoopee said:
The set on Amazon is similar to the tooling I have bought off eBay and Aliexpress for my Heavy 10. I have been very happy with all of it, well made and properly hardened. Head and shoulders above the sets that HF sells, which I assume is this one. Pay no attention to the Oscarbide name, it means nothing.

View attachment 411783
Click to expand...
I was surprised how well this set works for many different metals.
Cheap works sometimes.
 
Well...... Nobody's flat out said it's a mistake yet........ :)

I'll let you know how it goes.
 
I have been puzzled by what seem to me to be incredibly huge prices for “name brand” tool holders. It’s a relatively small stick of metal, a few milling operations, drill and tap a hole…then heat treat? Marking?

True, there are some holders like the “top notch” style that I have not tried yet, but I’ve made holders for the common inserts without difficulty. They work fine, can’t tell any difference. Can anybody explain what I’m not seeing?
 
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