Lathe Tooling

[intjonmiller]

I am NOT a woodturning expert, as I've never turned a single piece of wood. But I have read about two basic techniques which require different tool geometries: cutting and scraping. That's been tucked away in the back of my head as the first things to research when I'm ready to turn wood on my metal lathe. Also the highest speed on a metal lathe is still somewhat slow for turning wood for a good finish, but for those of us without room or budget for both machines it is doable.

 

[guitarpro1324]

A common practice with building cues is using taper bars and your power feed. The only thing I will be using hss is for facing, boring and parting. Even if I were to offset the tail stock and do a conical taper I would still use a router.

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[mikey]

The only thing I will be using hss is for facing, boring and parting. Even if I were to offset the tail stock and do a conical taper I would still use a router.

Well, this does make a difference.

 

[GLCarlson]

I was reading and watching some videos about the Diamond Tool holder. Did I understand correctly that they are made of cast Iron?

Has anyone tried to make one of these?

LOTS of plans on the net. Just search tangential tooling. Fairly easy to build, probably 3-5 hours of work, maybe a day worst case. Build vs buy is the usual trade-off; a machinist can make pretty much any tool he needs- the question is whether it's worth time time if an alternative (purchase) is available.

If I were manufacturing these, I'd investment cast 8620 or something similar. That process can deliver a near net shape to around 5 thousandths, so finishing would amount to minor clean-up, tapping, and heat treating. Casting is a common process for gear blanks, steel tooling, stuff like that; the metal is "cast iron", I suppose- it's cast, and it's got some iron in it. Not, however, "cast iron" as that term is commonly used (meaning a carbon content above 2% or so, and otherwise predominantly iron and a bit of silicon). A lot of plastic, glass, and aluminum tooling (molds) is done that way; I know one boutique foundry that's made a worldwide business of casting exotic steels. (Really exotic- the amount of iron as an element was under 50%... weird stuff. ) My early 90's Diamond does not seem to be classical cast iron.

 

[BGHansen]

My son turns chop sticks on a metal lathe (with a taper attachment) using a router as the tool holder/tool bit. He uses a 1/4" or 3/8" dadoing bit; straight sides but cuts with the flat bottom. It gives a really nice finish, don't have to spin the lathe at warp speed since the router is turning the bit at 10,000+ RPMs. It does throw a lot of chips though! We use a shop vac on the cross feed to pick up most of the mess. We wear hearing protection with the router and shop vac blasting away.

For steel I'm generally pretty lazy and go with carbide inserts line TNMG-321's. As mentioned above, I get a better finish with HSS. I have BXA's on my three lathes which are 10", 12" and 14" lathes. Use the 1/2" shank 5-piece tool holder sets from CDCO or Shars.

Bruce