insert tooling question.?

[1965fb]

I am new to machining and have a question on insert tooling. I have a south bend 9A fairly tight in good condition. Is quality insert tooling a wise move or stick with HSS I can sharpen well and have no problems making cutters just wondering if it will like em or if it is best to stick with HSS.
Thanks
DK

 

[Bob Korves]

Carbide tooling will not be able to run at the speeds and feeds it is intended to on that lathe, except at small diameters, and where HSS often pushes less hard on the work because it is usually sharper. On the other hand, carbide can cut harder materials that will destroy the cutting edges on HSS. A lot of HSS and a bit of carbide for special jobs is my recommendation. Brazed carbide tooling is another choice.

 

[willthedancer]

Depends on what you want to cut, and how fast you want to get there. If you are making things out of aluminum, HSS is great. 660 bronze, Hss is good again. 1018 mild steel, Hss is ok. If you wnt to do projects in alloy steels like 4140, especially in the quenched and tempered state, you're probably going to want coated carbide inserts. Same story with Stainless steels, and tool steels. They can all be cut with Hi speed, but it's really slow.

If you do go with indexable carbide, Try to keep it simple. Triangular positive rake tools are pretty inexpensive if you go with the TPU style. You can get a TPMR for difficult materials and use it in those tool holders. Buy good carbide. The cheap stuff isn't really a value. Pick a grade that matches what you are cutting. Nice thing about plain triangles and 80 degree diamond (negative rake) tools is that you can also get fairly inexpensive Silicon nitride and ceramic inserts too. That is an amazing world to play in.

 

[1965fb]

I think I have read else where to avoid as a rule on my old machine but making and checking heights gets old.
I guess its time to make a height setting gauge.
Thanks for your input.
DK

 

[1965fb]

Depends on what you want to cut, and how fast you want to get there. If you are making things out of aluminum, HSS is great. 660 bronze, Hss is good again. 1018 mild steel, Hss is ok. If you wnt to do projects in alloy steels like 4140, especially in the quenched and tempered state, you're probably going to want coated carbide inserts. Same story with Stainless steels, and tool steels. They can all be cut with Hi speed, but it's really slow.

If you do go with indexable carbide, Try to keep it simple. Triangular positive rake tools are pretty inexpensive if you go with the TPU style. You can get a TPMR for difficult materials and use it in those tool holders. Buy good carbide. The cheap stuff isn't really a value. Pick a grade that matches what you are cutting. Nice thing about plain triangles and 80 degree diamond (negative rake) tools is that you can also get fairly inexpensive Silicon nitride and ceramic inserts too. That is an amazing world to play in.

Thank you