Lathe Cutting Tools

Cavediver said:
There are a ton of great tips in that thread. For me, one of the best takeaways was the use of wood push blocks. This tip helped me take my 10 facet sides down to one or two, giving me a more consistent grind and sharper edges, and it makes honing much easier.
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Yup, stupid piece of wood can make a big difference in how your tools turn out. I bet I had more facets than you when I started out and, like you, that wood push block helped a lot.
 
Best tip I can give you:
Test diffrent tools, speeds and materials and see what fit you and your machine best. Results will not vary much from what has beeing told here but you will earn valuable experience. Have done it and learned a lot.

Carbide x HSS

Steel grades

Plastics
 
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Flyrod said:
It is interesting to read that several people shy away from hss b/c of having to grind/re-grind

if hss is better for your application, can't you have the best of both worlds by using inserts that are made of hss and not carbide? - according to this clip:


they can be resharpened, come in every varity (like carbide inserts), are a lot cheaper, and have the benefits of hss as a material (where hss's pros are a benefit) and yet have the convenience of a quick turn of a screw and having a new perfectly ground edge and the luxury of not having to hand grind?

are there many out there that use inserts but made of hss rather than carbide?

is there some downside to hss inserts that make them undesirable?

thanks
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Fly, all these guys are giving great advice, but I'd like to put in a plug for the Arthur Warner tooling, which is what I've been using. I've only had a lathe for a few years, so my experience is limited, but I
chose the Warner tools because it was an easy way to get started turning stuff without having to learn tool grinding first. I plan on learning to grind my own tools at some point, but until
then I've been able to make a bunch of parts and concentrate on learning some of the basic skills involved in using the lathe itself. They may not be the best tools around, but they work and for the stuff
I've made I've gotten good results with them.
 
I guess I've never saw/seen the AR Warner appeal, for what their insert cost, I can buy 3 or more carbide inserts. I have bought some of the HSS inserts, I never got any better cut finish or cut depth over carbide, to me it was just like using a dull POOR quality carbide insert. As I said about the tangential tool, what works well for Person A, may or may not work for Person B or C.
 
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Buffalo20 said:
I guess I've never saw/seen the AR Warner appeal, for what their insert cost, I can buy 3 or more carbide inserts. I have bought some of the HSS inserts, I never got any better cut finish or cut depth over carbide, to me it was just like using a dull POOR quality carbide insert. As I said about the tangential tool, what works well for Person A, may or may not work for Person B or C.
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Buffalo, I think what I was trying to suggest is that the Warner stuff is an easy way for the OP to get up and running. In the long run, and with experience he can always switch to carbide. As you know,
there are an almost unlimited number of carbide inserts to choose from, which offers a great many possibilities to the experienced machinist, and great confusion to someone just getting started. And
the OP has both an 11" Sheldon, which might be suitable for carbide, and a 6" Atlas which isn't, which suggests he would need two sets of tools if he chose carbide for the Sheldon.
As for cost, the Warner inserts cost about 7 bucks, but can be sharpened many times. This might be more expensive than what you get carbide for, but it doesn't seem like a deal killer.
 
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Nogoingback said:
Fly, all these guys are giving great advice, but I'd like to put in a plug for the Arthur Warner tooling, which is what I've been using. I've only had a lathe for a few years, so my experience is limited, but I
chose the Warner tools because it was an easy way to get started turning stuff without having to learn tool grinding first. I plan on learning to grind my own tools at some point, but until
then I've been able to make a bunch of parts and concentrate on learning some of the basic skills involved in using the lathe itself. They may not be the best tools around, but they work and for the stuff
I've made I've gotten good results with them.
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Thanks to all who took the time to respond to the OP and to some of my hijacking - it's all very helpful
 
Nogoingback said:
Buffalo, I think what I was trying to suggest is that the Warner stuff is an easy way for the OP to get up and running. In the long run, and with experience he can always switch to carbide. As you know,
there are an almost unlimited number of carbide inserts to choose from, which offers a great many possibilities to the experienced machinist, and great confusion to someone just getting started. And
the OP has both an 11" Sheldon, which might be suitable for carbide, and a 6" Atlas which isn't, which suggests he would need two sets of tools if he chose carbide for the Sheldon.
As for cost, the Warner inserts cost about 7 bucks, but can be sharpened many times. This might be more expensive than what you get carbide for, but it doesn't seem like a deal killer.
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On another site, someone said I needed to "HONE" the HSS inserts, the last thing I'm going to do is buy an insert and have to hone before I can use it. To me that like sharpening a new saw blade before using it or sharpening a new end mill before I use it. If I have to do that, why buy new at all?? But again thats me, if it works for others, go for it. I've gotten to the point, where I know what works for me and try to stick to it. I do try different things from time to time, but almost always go back to what I've been using.

One of the new things that did work out was the Glanze boring bars and smaller lathe tools, I got out of India.

Another was some sample HSS end mills, sourced out of Korea. They were meant to be supplied, to suppliers, so they can be private label them, they just have the size and Korea printed on the shank. I just ordered 80 of them, 5 each of each size, in both 2 and 4 flute (center cutting), from 1/8" to 9/16". everything up to 3/8" has a 3/8" shank, the rest have 1/2" shanks.

The intent of my posts, are not geared to say anyone who uses HSS lathe tools are wrong, its just for me, carbide has worked better. I sometimes question the almost quasi-religious devotion to HSS, that some seem to possess, but if it works for you, thats all that matter. I've run carbide for about 20-25 years, successfully, on the (2) South Bend, the (2) Atlas, the Logan and the Jet lathes. At times I question things, its all part of my learning curve.
 
Nogoingback said:
Fly, all these guys are giving great advice, but I'd like to put in a plug for the Arthur Warner tooling, which is what I've been using. I've only had a lathe for a few years, so my experience is limited, but I
chose the Warner tools because it was an easy way to get started turning stuff without having to learn tool grinding first. I plan on learning to grind my own tools at some point, but until
then I've been able to make a bunch of parts and concentrate on learning some of the basic skills involved in using the lathe itself. They may not be the best tools around, but they work and for the stuff
I've made I've gotten good results with them.
Click to expand...
The only reason for HSS inserts to exist is for their use in multi tool holders in production machinery where they would be used where a carbide tool is run on a large diameter of the part being machined at its proper cutting speed, and the HSS tool is cutting on a smaller diameter at its allowable cutting speed; a carbide tool would not do well on the smaller diameter, as the speed being too low tends to cause premature failure of the cutting edge due, I think to chip flow dynamics.
 
I may be wrong but I think AR Warner is filling a niche in the market with their tooling. The explosion of cheap lathes from China has enabled a lot of hobbyists to dabble in metal working and I think ARW is aiming at this niche market. Their tools allow a new guy to jump right into using his lathe, without having to learn to grind tools or deal with choosing carbide inserts. The inserts are easily sharpened so while they may initially cost more than a carbide insert, they last much, much longer. They also cut well at the lower speeds most hobby lathes can run at. Accordingly, it isn't surprising that, with few exceptions, the experiences with AR Warner tools are almost uniformly positive.

Tangential tools/tool holders occupy a similar niche - easy to use, tool bits are cheap and it takes little to no skill to sharpen a tool. Again, experiences have been almost universally positive, especially from newer users who just want to learn to use their smaller, less rigid, less powerful and slower hobby lathes.

Personally, I think its good that these tools are out there. Its good for the hobby and its good for the users. We all know that carbide has its place; it's the leader in pro shops for a good reason. In fact, if you survey the HM membership, I would bet carbide is far and away the leader in tools used.

Every tool type has its uses. The trick is to know when to use the right tool for the job. Our new guys haven't had time to figure it out yet but I have faith that in time, they will.
 
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