Kennametal Top Notch

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Batmanacw

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I bought right and left Top Notch insert holders at my local flea market a few years ago after seeing a Top Notch threading tool used on Joe Pie's channel. That video series resulted in a happy coincidence that I'll explain later.

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My flea market source had some Kennametal threading inserts in both right and left hand for $6 each. I scored a few odd grooving and radius grooving tools but I didn't put much effort into finding lots of different sizes.

I finally took the time to decode the Kennametal part numbers. Let's use NR2062R as an example.


I have the number two size holders. NG is for square grooving and NR is for radius grooves. The first 2 is for the #2 size holder. 062 is for 1/16". 1/16" wide groove or 1/16" radius on the radius grooving tool. The last R is for right hand.

I started looking up different inserts on Ebay in both grooving and radius grooving and have now ordered a decent selection.

It was a happy coincidence that Joe Pie teaches threading away from the chuck. I had bought a Top Notch boring bar that cuts left handed but uses a right hand tool like the majority of my grooving inserts. All I have to do is run my non-threaded chuck in reverse to cut o-ring and snap ring grooves so i don't need to buy a bunch more left handed inserts.
 
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I have a crap load of these and consider these the best tools made . ( along with Valenite ) Inserts are expensive but what isn't these days .
 
So far I have or have ordered:
NG2125R KC730 4
NG2094R KC810 7
NG2062R KC730 5
NG2058R KC810 10

NR2062R K420 5
NR2047R KC 5025 4
NR2031R KCU25 5

I want to order NG2031R but I haven't found a great deal on them. This is the smallest standard size they make.

All the others averaged approximately $6 each.

Having a bunch of sizes is nice because you can cut both sides of a slot after plunging the middle. Having the exact size isn't really important.
 
I'll have to check what I have in the stash . I might have some of the .031s . I let a member borrow one of my 3/8' threading/grooving bars a while back and came up with 37 different inserts for that bar alone . I used left and right hand models depending on using a manual or cnc lathe . The cnc was a slant bed so the opposite hand had to be used . What was great about the top notch tools they were all cnc certified . :encourage:
 
I need to figure out if they make a top notch insert for Acme threads. I don't have a reference to figure it out.

Eta: they do make acme thread inserts but they are for the number 3 holders.
 
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Yes , they do make them . Not sure for what size though .
 
I concur with the quality and effectiveness of the Top Notch holders and inserts and the variety of each availaable. Fortunately I acquired a number of wider grooving inserts - It's easy with the vertical positioning to grind and customize these inserts to make form tools.
 
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