Are offset holders useful in PM's BXA Master turning/Boring Set?

[skcncx]

AR Warner toolholders are good quality, but I don't think they are any different then any other name brand. They do offer things that are not available elsewhere, the threading toolholder I have has one side external threading and the other side internal, so that helps save the cost on an additional tool.

AR Warner is on my list because it appears they are the only ones with HSS indexable inserts. I do/have done a lot of aluminum on my atlas 618. Though, once I try a CCGT insert, I may not care about HSS for aluminum and the softer metals.

 

[Ischgl99]

I use Korloy H01 grade CCGT inserts made for aluminum, they give a mirror finish if you don’t baby them. I don’t think I have used my HSS inserts from AR Warner for anything except chamfering since getting the carbide inserts.

 

[skcncx]

I would recommend grabbing a copy of David Best's book Introduction to Indexable Tooling for the Metal Lathe: A User Guide.

It's on my list, David has already sent me a few sample pages clearly good content. For me, it's the "why" and "reason" illustrations when making choices.... I've spent enough cycles looking at the decode rings for figuring out what they mean... but that still doesn't boil it down to why or for what reasons you pick one over the other.

If it was in download format, I'd likely already have it. Clearly not for sharing purposes, as that maybe why it's print only, I'll end up scanning it all in to PDF anyway for my personal use only.

 

[Winegrower]

I made a couple of what you are calling offset holders. I’ve never used them, and doubt I ever will.

 

[skcncx]

I would recommend grabbing a copy of David Best's book Introduction to Indexable Tooling for the Metal Lathe: A User Guide.
It's a really great reference and saved me hours of trying to decipher inserts.

Got the book, just about finished it, definitely recommend. The explanations and reasoning of all aspects related to inserts for me was the real value. I was getting good at decoding things and being able to understand insert compatibility, but to explain the benefits of one over the other is what really helped me. I needed the executive summary. There's a place for all these various inserts.. but boiling it down was difficult this book is helping.

What I choose to start with for threaded is still a bit confusion... the more options I have the harder it is to know... so I think lay down style and hss for that since I can go slower.. plus I want to try the threading away from headstock approach, need to look at how that affect the style of threading insert you use since it's mounted up side down.