Which carbide inserts should I purchase?

L

LMerrill

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Greetings to the forum.

I was recently given a heavily used 7 Piece Indexable Carbide Set which I think is Grizzly's part number T10293. Most of the carbide inserts are either worn, chipped, or just missing. Looking at Grizzly's replacement for this offers 4 different options depending on what is being cut; machine steel, cast iron, stainless steel, and aluminum. Because I'm not going to lay out $32-$40 for each of these sets, I'm looking for my best all-round option. I'm still very much a newbie at this but my gut tells me to get the machine steel set as most of my cutting is for steel, brass, and aluminum.

I'm looking to see what others in the group think.

Lloyd
 
The group is divided on the issue. Lol

But I think you’re on the right track.
 
What's good for the goose, isn't necessarily good for the gander; C2 VS C5
 
Of the choices listed, I believe you have selected the correct one.

However, that's a lot of money for inserts that can be had for about $1 ea. (or less) in a pack of 10. You are going to want more than 1 of each and you won't want to buy another assortment just to get the one you broke.

www.ebay.com

CCMT21.51 CCMT060204 Carbide Inserts Turning inserts 10pcs (Boxed) | eBay

GBJ CCMT21.51/CCMT21.52/CCMT32.51/CCMT32.52. Suitable for SCLCR/SCLCL turning tool holders.
www.ebay.com
www.ebay.com

10x DCMT070204 DCMT21.51 Carbide Insert For Lathe Cutter Turning Tool | eBay

Model: DCMT070204 US735 DCMT21.51. Mainly used for steel, stainless steel finishing and semi-finishing rough machining. USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Austrilia, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Others.
www.ebay.com

Don't get hung up on the carbide grade. As a newbie and a hobbyist you will most likely use the same inserts for everything unless you run into something special like hardened material. I turn everything from plastic to prehardened 4140 with the same inserts (of unknown grade). It is also impossible to tell what you are actually getting when the inserts come from China. I've used a lot of chinese inserts, some were better than others, none were crap. At less than $1 each, I don't care.

Take the time to identify the inserts for those tools and order them individually by the pack.

edit: This set of tools, which I believe is the same as yours, lists the insert size on the tool shank.
www.ebay.com

7 PC SET, 3/8" INDEXABLE TURNING TOOLS W/ CARBIDE INSERTS INSTALLED XS054 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 7 PC SET, 3/8" INDEXABLE TURNING TOOLS W/ CARBIDE INSERTS INSTALLED XS054 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
 
Last edited:
Greetings to the forum

I do appreciate the feedback so far. As with any question asked, you will get many opinions. All of your opinions are greatly appreciated. As I mentioned in my initial post I'm a real newbie. My projects to date have been very simple to modest attempts. My goal here is to learn how to use my equipment knowing that I will ruin materials and cutting tools along the way.

The suggestion of the low-cost inserts from eBay is interesting. For approximately $1/insert with these 10-packs, I can outfit multiple tools and still have many spares. This is much better than the original assortment of single inserts I was looking at. As I become more proficient I will probably look at more specialized grades.

Lloyd
 
LMerrill said:
Greetings to the forum

I do appreciate the feedback so far. As with any question asked, you will get many opinions. All of your opinions are greatly appreciated. As I mentioned in my initial post I'm a real newbie. My projects to date have been very simple to modest attempts. My goal here is to learn how to use my equipment knowing that I will ruin materials and cutting tools along the way.

The suggestion of the low-cost inserts from eBay is interesting. For approximately $1/insert with these 10-packs, I can outfit multiple tools and still have many spares. This is much better than the original assortment of single inserts I was looking at. As I become more proficient I will probably look at more specialized grades.

Lloyd
Click to expand...
I do recommend getting inserts make for Aluminum in addition to "regular" inserts: they cut very well and produce beautiful finishes. Although I have not (yet) tried, others have reported getting very good results on steel with these inserts as well.
 
I (hobby milling / turning) generally use the cheap Chinese inserts that cost between 4$ to10$ for a box of 10. I also tried a few more expensive insert types from a German seller (recommended by a customer) for about $35 for a box of 10. These more expensive inserts did a decent job but they did not outperform my Chinese inserts. That is also not to be expected because professional quality inserts need a professional rigid machine to utilize their performance.
If none of my inserts do the job, I try DCGT070202 of CCGT060204 inserts for aluminum. Most of the time they perform well on steel, stainless, aluminum, brass or POM.
I always buy from the same 3 suppliers that only sell milling and turning tools. Some times they deliver a known brand but I expect that these are counterfeits because they don't mention the brand in the adds.
The delivered quality is good but there are some differences between boxes of the same brand and type. That is not something you want if you do this on a professional base. Then I think it is wise to buy a decent brand from a local seller.
 
I've had good luck getting great finishes with the Korloy brand inserts including these specific ones:
www.ebay.com

DCGT070204 AK H01/DCGT21.51-AK H01 blade Carbide inserts For Aluminum 10pcs | eBay

Lot of BOX (10pcs). For tool holder : SDJCR / SDJCL / SD. 07 Holders.
www.ebay.com

Made in Korea and seem to be consistent in quality. The aluminum inserts are definitely sharper on the tip than the ones made for steel and work well on steel, aluminum, plastic and brass.
 
ivel03 said:
I've had good luck getting great finishes with the Korloy brand inserts including these specific ones:
www.ebay.com

DCGT070204 AK H01/DCGT21.51-AK H01 blade Carbide inserts For Aluminum 10pcs | eBay

Lot of BOX (10pcs). For tool holder : SDJCR / SDJCL / SD. 07 Holders.
www.ebay.com

Made in Korea and seem to be consistent in quality. The aluminum inserts are definitely sharper on the tip than the ones made for steel and work well on steel, aluminum, plastic and brass.
Click to expand...

Korloy is one of the brands that is frequently counterfeited. $1.80 ea. is a suspiciously good price.
Here is that insert on Amazon for 3x the price.
 
You're probably correct but they still seem to work well for my use. How do you know the ones you linked are genuine? There's lots of counterfeited stuff on amazon and price alone doesn't mean much.

What i do know is some of the sellers on ebay that i've purchased the inserts from in the past are no longer selling Korloy ones so maybe they were fakes or maybe they couldn't get hot ones to peddle any longer. The labels and the fit and finish on fakes is usually a give away and the ones i've bought don't have any of those give aways.

I don't want to derail the thread here - i've had good luck with most all of the carbide inserts but was suggesting to try out ones designed for alumnium as it leaves a very nice finish.
 
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