Lathe Tooling

f29e3aac77bfcd38b40f85b8302356de.jpg

So I bought this lot off of eBay. I will use these to practice my grinding and honing. Paid 45 for the lot...good deal?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 
I gotta admit... I love my Diamond Toolholder, which is a tangential holding system. Soooo easy to grind a fresh sharp face using the jig. I tried my hand at tool grinding, and still do when I need something the tangential can't do, but it's like night and day. My grinding has never been able to get anywhere near as good. Yes, you should learn how to grind your own tools, but for the majority of common lathe work I don't think you're necessarily "cheating yourself, as some guys would say.
 
Inserted wood turning tools were all the rage a few years ago, but their fame has died down for the exception of some turners who turn highly figured woods where HSS just won't hold up. Usually they are round in profile. You could easily make a holder for these wood turning carbide inserts.

Oh, and I also do like tangential tool holders. I made a small one and use it often, but I don't think it would produce a good finish in wood. Too small of a nose radius, maybe a round toolbit holder would be better.
 
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?
 
Charles Spencer said:
So, you're from Texas, you're 26 years old, your user name is guitar pro, and you make pool cues?

Young man, it sounds like you spend too much time in honky tonks.
Click to expand...
Haha actually I think country music is the devils work....I never touch the stuff.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 
The tangential tool holder and diamond tool bit is a cool design, but they are phenomenally expensive for a design that is over a century old. There are a number of sites and forum posts detailing the ways people have made their own, and the grinding jig. Once my mill is set up in the coming weeks, and I get to the point of being comfortable with my developing skills, I intend to make at least one. I have a couple dozen 3/16" square cobalt blanks so it seems silly to not to do it.

I think that seems like a great deal for that kind of quality old tool steel. You can't compare the price per bit with the usual import stuff. I'm not the usual "everything imported is terrible quality and everything made here is excellent" kind of guy, but there's no question that the generic import hss is not like the real stuff. I'm sure you'll get *many* years of service from that small investment.
 
I grind my own HSS blanks when needing a special cut. But most of the time I use the indexable HSS inserts and holders from Arthur Warner Co. Simply a great working system for the hobbyist. When the inserts get dull, just remove and hand hone the top of the insert....good as new.

Provides excellent finish.

http://www.arwarnerco.com

No affiliation, just a very happy customer.
 
I recalled seeing a reference to HSS tip geometry for wood someplace and it turns out one table recommends 15-20 degrees of side relief, 20 degrees of end relief and 30 degrees of side rake. No mention of back rake or nose radius.

These angles suggest that wood requires a very sharp edge (duh!) to cut well. The lack of back rake, if intentional, suggests that the entire cutting load is intended to be borne by the side cutting edge and not the leading tip/corner.

After thinking about this, I think I would try 30 degrees of side and end relief, 30 degrees of side rake and 5-10 degrees of back rake to shift the cutting load to the front 25% of the cutting edge. I would also put a 1/32" nose radius on it to improve finishes. I'm willing to bet this tool would cut hardwood really nicely. Personally, this is a tool that I would put a mirror finish on, honing with translucent arkansas stone in the final step.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top