Decent Brazed Carbide Tools.

Just put in an order for 3 different interstate tools, a RH cranked knife, parting tool and undercut/boring tool. Around the 20-25 mill mark in shank size, they varied but the RH knife should be 1". At a not exactly cheap £50 order.

I went for humdrum P30 carbide, as i consider what i do to be general purpose, P40 being the "heavier" grade and K20 being a light finishing tool. The I numbers were 0 rake so that is probably only suitable for the big boys machines.

Was going to test one of my old boring tools on a big dia. part a person wanted making but the depth was only 50mm, not fit for purpose, so i needed to use one of my indexables with a long length to do that.

Might be an act of madness but i'm not ready to give up on them yet, i'm that convinced that somewhere, they are still making those larger rusty red knife tools i used in college which were as sturdy as old boots.

Michael W

Just tried another P30 tool i already own a few hours ago to p-off some bars (a £2-3 jobby from a clarke set) Only thing i did was to key up the edges a bit with a flat diamond needle file. Geometry seemed to be all there, barring a chip breaker but that's not entirely necessary. 

Finish was pretty good, nice and even, i think a good parting tool does need some rigidity so i'm expecting good things from my interstate £15 or so parting tool.

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 28/09/2016 21:44:19

Michael, for your future reference Sandvik Coromant also do Brazed carbide lathe tools. All grades, geometry, ect are available in their catalogue.

cheers.

Thanks Ray,

I couldn't find them on their flashy website but i threw it into google and it gave me the catalogue instantly?

Regardless, this is interesting, especially if they themselves make them in house, they do big ones too which i'm always pleased to see. I reckon it could be worth a shot.

Presumably i can just order through their website. I might make some enquiries to see if they do make them in sweden.

Michael W

Received. Two of them will have their trial on some 3/4" stainless i was planning on turning. There is what appears to be a hairline fracture on the front face of the parting tool, i can't tell if it's the paint or the carbide, could've been damaged in transit but it's a downer for interstate already unfortunately, we'll see how the turning tool does.

Michael W

Michael, These Toolmex ones I bought for me first lathe years ago, never used them since I decided to go the indexable route. They still have the protective wax on the tips. Just sitting on a shelf taking up space.

If you want them just let me know and I will fire them off to you. Just stick a fiver in an envelope once you receive them to cover postage cos they are heavy, other than that they are free gratis. At least someone will get the use of them.

cheers.

Wow, thanks Raymond, I'll PM you.

Michael W

No probs. If it hadn't been for this thread I would never have remembered I still had them. So at least you will get the use of them.

cheers.