What does a tool look like?

I went to school in the city of London.... making things was what you told the poor up north to do.

so 50yrs on I had always wanted to make my own "bits" on my own equipment.

A very, very nice gent sold me a CL300 lathe for almost nothing and "threw in" a vertical mill and masses of top line and hobby type tools.

OK I make adjustments to commercial "items" and made a few bespoke items for myself........ BUT in the "included" items are a great selection of lathe tools, a few of which I have used to great success in making my own "things" in aluminium and brass, but what are the tools PROPERLY for?

Does anybody know of an illustrated guide to the various lathe tools and what / how they should be used for?

Can You Google "How to run a lathe by South Bend?" It is a good beginning book.

Not the best graphic I've got, but this range of knives is marked with what what they do. Using the 'correct' tool isn't exactly 'the law', for example I often get a decent finish with a roughing tool (designed to remove metal quickly), but if getting a decent finish is bothersome I'd try another shape.

Likewise, boring bars, normally used for internal cuts can be used upside down with the lathe in reverse for facing. Parting off blades are used for grooves as well as separating. Threading tools have to be angled for the thread being cut, Whitworth is 55°, BA 47½°, and almost everything else 60°.

If you can post photos as described here we can tell you what you've got. Sparey's The Amateur's Lathe is my favourite book despite being written before Carbide Inserts and DROs.

Dave

Right and Left tools are the opposite to above.

Jim

Jimmy b beat me to it.

Brian

British makes of "forged shank HSS" lathe Rennie, Stag et al tooling had a numbered list of standard shapes. probably current from late 1930's to possibly 1980.

I have a least one book with pictures of most varieties somewhere, I may have the actual angles and duties too.

Maybe findable on line as well.

I this is of interest I can have a delve, which may take some time!

Clive

You need The Amateurs Lathe by LH Sparey. Has it all.

Do a Google search.

Heaps of information and user guide videos on the Internet and Youtube, etc.

Paul.

A Man and his Lathe by L. H. Sparey complements his other book, and Text Book of Turning by F. W. Hercus is also very good. This is available as a pdf down load from somewhere on the internet.

Hi Malcolm,

There are a few websites and PDF's you can download that describes turning, speeds and feeds and the tools used:

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Thor

It's true, but in my defence no wonder beginners are disorientated:

and

Top picture, a LH knife cuts to the right. Bottom picture, a LH knife cuts to the left.

However the convention is as pointed out by Jim and Brian, first picture in this post and like this insert holder, where DVJNR is the right hand version, and DVJNL the left.

Sorry for the confusion: the picture in my first post has labelled the RH and LH knives the wrong way round! But watch out buying those pre-shaped HSS knives, where Type 1 and Type 2 may mislead...

Dave

Probably not of immediate importance to the OP but the external threading tools shown have the cutting points in the centre of the shank, in practice they are better on the left hand side to allow threads to be cut closer to a shoulder.

S-O-D and Hopper have it right !

Get a copy of Sparey,s book, no need to look any further, he has/had it all.

Plus, you can take a lot of the stuff you read, with a large pinch of snuff, you run a model workshop, not a factory, so time and production do not apply.

Loosen up and have fun.

PS, DONT KNOW WHERE ALL THOSE YELLOW SPOTS CAME FROM.

I cannot thank you all enough

malcolm