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TCT LATHE TOOLS

SHARPENING LATHE TOOLS

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Peter G. Shaw12/04/2011 12:57:45
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One thing I will also say: read the books, and then go and play. Write off a few carbide tipped tools. Turn some scrap steel, then turn some known steel such as EN1A and note the difference. In other words, experiment. This way you will learn what can and cannot be done on your equipment. And if you get stuck and do not know what is wrong, then come back onto this forum and ask: there are a lot of extremely knowledgable people around. Then there is me who is, after many years, still experimenting and learning what I can and can not do.
 
As an example of things I can not do, take carbide tipped tools, ie the ones with a lump of carbide brazed onto the end, and often supplied as a set. The parting off tools simply did not work for me - lots of chatter, and one where the actual tip parted company from the shank. Other tools seem to chip as soon as they saw a piece of metal, let alone cut it - I exaggerate of course, but after having spent many hours with diamond hones repairing them, I am no longer a fan of tipped tools. HSS rules OK! Some people here reckon that replaceable tips are the way to go, and fair enough I bought a replaceable tip milling cutter and so far it seems to be working absolutely fine.
 
But above all, and yes I am repeating myself, get out there and experiment. And enjoy. There's nothing like the feeling you get when you actually get something to work and you can say "I made that. It may not be pretty, but it is all my own work".
 
Incidently, my current parting off tool is made from an old 4" file, along the lines of Mason's hacksaw blade parting off tool in his book "Using the Small Lathe". I have to say that it works absolutely fine.

Regards,
 
Peter G. Shaw
Richard Edmonds12/04/2011 18:42:05
13 forum posts
This is exactly the thing, experimenting is the way to go, what is a pain is the fact that my mate is a tool maker but I just cannot get him out of the pub and round my garage to show me how to do it all properly. Thats why I am asking you guys but I have to say I am enjoying the response to my questions enormously. I was interested in Peters article about tipped tools etc, my mate made a load up for me from HSS steel which will get me going, but of course keeping them sharp is something I will have to learn myself. Anyway I missed the postie today and of course some books from Amazon as well.
Thanks guys I am enjoying this journey back to the world I wanted to be in when I left school, an old workmate once said to me " Dick you will never be happy until you have a workshop" how right he was
Ian S C13/04/2011 12:29:18
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Tonight I had one of the jobs that I use carbide tools, turning down some 35mm 4140 bar, and I did'nt want to take all night over it (its a paying job), other wise I'd use HSS.
I,v often used a bit of a 1" x 12" power hacksaw blade as a parting tool. Just grind the teeth off, shape the cutting end, use tooth side up, on my one it has a HSS edge. I would'nt use an all hard blade. Ian S C
Peter G. Shaw13/04/2011 13:39:29
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Just going back to the homemade parting off tool.
 
Mason recommends the use of old hacksaw blades as these will make a very fine, well comparatively fine that is, tool thus reducing waste to a minimum. Unfortunately, the first blade I used was useless as it was softer than the metal I was trying to cut and ended up with a rounded cutting corner. The next blade I used was much harder, probably an all hard blade, but whilst it tried to work, it was much too brittle and thus snapped off. This is probably why Ian SC doesn' recommend all hard blades.
 
The homemade tool, as I said uses an old 4" x ½" file with the sides ground down to form a blade about 1.8mm thick. The cutting point is formed using the smooth edge of the file and is left flat, ie no groove or anything. With plenty of cutting fluid, and a deliberate "in" movement, it works extremely well and I can part off up to about 18mm without problems and without using a rear toolpost.
 
Why 1.8mm? In my case 3mm caused a lot of chatter, the saw blade at 0.8mm was too thin and brittle, and the original rubbishy tool I was using until I broke it was 1.6mm at the tip. I therefore reasoned that anything between 1.6mm & 2.00mm would be ok, so when I got it down to 1.8mm, I stopped grinding.
 
I suspect, and perhaps Ian SC could confirm, that the 1" x 12" power hacksaw blades are considerably wider than the standard ½" blades.
 
This is what I mean by experimenting to find what works, and doesn't work.
 
Regards,
 
Peter G. Shaw
Ian S C14/04/2011 00:32:03
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7468 forum posts
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Peter, the power hacksaw blade is about .050" thick. Ian S C
Peter G. Shaw14/04/2011 19:18:44
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0.050" thick equates to 1.27mm. So it is just under twice my normal hacksaw blades. Which means that they will be much stronger and therefore less brittle. Could be worth trying sometime if I can find a scrap one.
 
Thanks Ian.
 
Regards,
 
Peter G. Shaw
Ian S C15/04/2011 11:25:58
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7468 forum posts
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When I first got my lathe, one of my first projects was a replacement set of radiator nuts for a Lanz Bulldog tractor, these were made of bronze 2" dia, threaded 3/4" BSP, so the 16 bits of bronze had to be parted off some how, and the bit of saw blade was all I had, it worked well, even though some one told me I might have a bit of trouble with it. Ian S C
Gordon W15/04/2011 14:47:58
2011 forum posts
Hi, Ian, off topic I suppose, but. I'd be interested to know how you clamped / mounted the parting off hacksaw blade, a simple description will do. I'm in the thinking mode for a different, and cheaper parting off tool.
Ian S C15/04/2011 15:13:25
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230 photos
he holder is a bit crude, the part that fits in the tool post is made of 2 bits of1"x !' X 1/4" angle iron, the blade is held on a piece of 1/4" plate with a recess a few thou less than the thickness of the blade and held against the angle iron with 6 1/4" bolts, the holder is about 3" long. There you are, as clear as mud, Imight try and get a photo of it, you'll then see how rough it is. Ian S C
Ian S C15/04/2011 15:17:11
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7468 forum posts
230 photos
he holder is a bit crude, the part that fits in the tool post is made of 2 bits of1"x !' X 1/4" angle iron, the blade is held on a piece of 1/4" plate with a recess a few thou less than the thickness of the blade and held against the angle iron with 6 1/4" bolts, the holder is about 3" long. There you are, as clear as mud, Imight try and get a photo of it, you'll then see how rough it is. Ian S C PS I tried making a parting tool to fit it out of a bit of a Tungsten Tip cicular saw blade, but the tip fell of, I do on occasions use the little tips on lathe tools.
Gordon W16/04/2011 09:35:11
2011 forum posts
Thanks for that, think I understand, but not be doing anything for a few days. The septic tank has thrown a wobbley and wife says it must be fixed.
Ian S C16/04/2011 12:06:06
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7468 forum posts
230 photos
Hi Gordon, I won't say anything about septic tanks, I'v got one, and its OK at the moment, so I'm not tempting fate. Ian S C
Peter G. Shaw16/04/2011 15:07:45
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1531 forum posts
44 photos
Hi Gordon,
 
If you can get a look at Len Mason's book, Using the Small Lathe, there is a line drawing of how he made his, and which I followed, suitable modified for my lathe.
 
Essentially, mine consists of a 6mm x 30mm x 80mm plate with a slot machined lengthwise slightly less than the file thickness (in my case - for a hacksaw blade it would be just under the blade thickness) and then a 3mm x 30mm x 80mm clamp plate holding it together. Clamp screws were 6 off 4BA. On the other side of the 6mm plate is a longitudinal thick bar which fits under the toolpost screws and is set to get the cutting point of the tip as near as possible on centre height.
 
Regards,
 
Peter G. Shaw
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