Carbide Tips from Hong Kong

the inserts pictured are totally different.

Ones a polished insert with a small rad and ones coated with a large rad.

My own experience of inserts from China, is that similar geometry etc gives similar results.

Compare apples with apples, not apples with pears

Or you could go up a gear and use PCD or CBN tips? That would most certainly be premium.

Michael W

I wonder if FF would care to try an experiment? He mentioned that he has a S7. Now Myford lathes are wonderful in every way except one - they aren't fast or powerful enough to make good use of carbide. It's no surprise that the sharp insert performed best in Fowler's test because it's not much different from an HSS tool. It's the profile of the insert that made the difference, not the brand.

Thing to try is what that yellow insert does at a much higher cutting speed. Try mounting a 3" diameter plus steel or hard skinned cast iron bar in the chuck, run the S7 flat out, and take a fast cut, at least 250 thou deep. Get it right and the insert will spray hot chips rather than make ribbons, and produce a good finish. Unfortunately, with more normally sized work, it's hard to get a Myford turning fast enough to get the best out of Carbide, and a risk that the motor will stall on a very deep cut.

So another conclusion from Fowler's post is that cheap Chinese inserts only work on cheap Chinese lathes! Perhaps every workshop should have one. Anyone who has to dump their old Myford to make space can send it to me. Nothing wrong with HSS in my hands...

Dave

Oh lord, what a real messed up conclusion

Ketan at ARC.

"the inserts pictured are totally different. Ones a polished insert with a small rad and ones coated with a large rad."

Of course, no dispute I can see that.

"My own experience of inserts from China, is that similar geometry etc gives similar results."

Similar results doing what though? The particular application I had was to fine turn silver steel to be a precise fit in a bored hole. Those unbranded sintered tips would not allow that. I'm in no position to question whether such Chinese tips with the same tip geometry as the Iscar ones would have permitted <0.001" cuts. I haven't tried. I simply purchased the Iscar tips and found they did the job I needed.

Then as for "Try mounting a 3" diameter plus steel or hard skinned cast iron bar in the chuck, run the S7 flat out, and take a fast cut, at least 250 thou deep."

I'll pass on that. The Myford does all I need which excludes having to take enormous cuts in 3" chilled CI.

I am a regular user of HSS lathe tools but possibly due to my inept use of the Quorn to sharpen them accurately, I cannot obtain the surface finish on Ag steel (with or without Garia H lubricant) that the Iscar tips generate dry.

At risk of repitition, I was attemptng to relate my experiences in using my lathe accoridng to my particular 'hobbyist' needs. If others should find anything of value in recounting those experienes so much the better.

And throw out your lovechild of a lathe? I know the myford can do whizzbang's and more but that would be like throwing the baby out with the bath water, the real way to go about it is to get TWO lathes! Join that exclusive club and keep your precious one and only.

A word to fowler, slight off topic but, I don't know if you've heard but the court case over who owns that photograph (Ape vs photographer) has been finally settled in favour of the photographer, common sense at last.

Michael W

"the court case over who owns that photograph (Ape vs photographer) has been finally settled in favour of the photographer, common sense at last."

Yes thanks, had seen that. It's on the list of urgent jobs to change from "Naruto" to another, non-copyright image.

How about a gold plated "Naruto" next to a silver plated one.?

It's a fair cop guv!

Check out Pierre's Garage Youtube channel for some tests on various Wild East tools. There ARE some decent tools out there but you need to understand what you are looking at, otherwise you won't know if it's any good or not.

Murray

"How about a gold plated "Naruto" next to a silver plated one.?"

Why, Ketan - why ?