Turning evenly spaced grooves

dlane said:
Diferant lathe with a carriage and lead screw, turret lathes are great for there intended purpose, thats not one of them.
Unless you want to do major modifications to it.
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I'm not against a mod, but I just can't think of what the mod would be.
markba633csi said:
Don't you mean Y movement not Z?
Mark
Click to expand...
My mentor would always go on that on mills and lathes, Z is always reserved for the spindle's axis. I would say "how could this possibly matter?!", and he'd just give me a "look".
Jimsehr said:
How long are parts? How many grooves? Do you have a collet system? Can you put a tool in front and back on cross slide? I have put grooves in shafts where the loading time was seconds if you have a lever collet system and don"t have to stop spindle.
If you can not move carriage you have to move tool or a stop or reload parts. I think for a few hundred parts I would reload parts
Click to expand...
  • Parts are .625" long.
  • 4 grooves.
  • Machine has a 5c lever lever collet closer
  • F/B lever cross slide
So Jim, you think the handling time wouldn't be too bad loading for each groove?

As I look at this, I've been getting the feeling that a form tool might not be too bad an idea..
 
You can buy a emergency 5c collet on EBay for 12 bucks free shipping. Bore collet to .375 dia and leave a shoulder for part to stop against. Then do one groove at a time. If you can use a tool in front and back side you only need to load twice. Or you can use a 3/8 collet and change the length with a collet stop. You can load parts without stopping spindle.
 
Might be hard to use that tool on a part that is only 5/8 long. Not enough length to hold part and have it extend out of collet enough to form grooves.
 
On a turret lathe with a lever cross slide. form tool in the front, parting tool on the back side and a stop in the tail stock. and use bar stock.
 
SmokeWalker said:
Hello everyone,

I'm interested in turning a series of [decorative circumferential] grooves on a part with a lathe in a production-style setting. (100s)

  • I want to use a lever cross slide I have, and I'd like to do them one groove at a time to be able to keep control of the sharpness of the tool.
  • I don't want the trouble of making a form tool if I can avoid it.
  • .375 O.D.
  • Spacing: .038
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

A 'form tool' could be a puck that's grooved at .038" pitch, which is hardened then ground with a notch.
To sharpen, just regrind thenotch and rotate it to bring the tool edge to the right cutting height. Think of a tap
with the sharp edges advancing into the work....

Repositioning for a bunch of grooves is tedious in tens. Really REALLY tedious in hundreds.
The right kind of form tool is a time-saver, even if you need to get it custom-made/hardened/ground to shape.
 
whitmore said:
A 'form tool' could be a puck that's grooved at .038" pitch, which is hardened then ground with a notch.
To sharpen, just regrind thenotch and rotate it to bring the tool edge to the right cutting height. Think of a tap
with the sharp edges advancing into the work....

Repositioning for a bunch of grooves is tedious in tens. Really REALLY tedious in hundreds.
The right kind of form tool is a time-saver, even if you need to get it custom-made/hardened/ground to shape.
Click to expand...

I think you're right. :oops:
 
Jim : Why not load pics and video to this site , google not working probably pulling a photomucket
 
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