Lathe tooling without breaking the bank?

[braidmeister]

If it's just a hobby machine, Shars is pretty good for most things and usually at the lowest price. Insert tooling is the way to go. Get HSS and carbide and know which ones to use when. The 7pc etc kits are fine to start. Get yourself some insert boring bars too & a nice chuck for the tailstock.

Despite what old timers will say - screw grinding your own tools when you are starting out. No need for dedicated grinder and everything else. When you have the need for a form tool or custom deal - then you'll be ready to approach grinding your own.

The QCTP is very nice - no need to shim tools up.

A 3-jaw chuck is OK when starting out, but if you want to do precision work, you'll want a 4-jaw, a dial indicator AND a test indicator to get your piece running true. It will be a royal PITA the first few times, but you'll get the hang of it.

Good luck & have fun!

 

[Strouty]

Definitely hobby, not sure I would ever want to get paid for precision.

I picked up a bunch of miscellaneous stuff at the industrial pawn shop. I bought a couple more tool holders, one is missing parts and I hope I can get them, if not then I bought a few chunks of metal.

 

[Strouty]

Ok, so the piece that I thought was missing is not actually missing, I just didn’t understand how it worked. So I paid $110 for a aloris BXA16 and a BXA20. Looks like I did fine on them, neither is perfect, but at least I won’t have to worry about crashing them.

I paid $205 for all of this, a lot of the inserts are mixed, but the tooling was in decent shape, some had been sharpened and was still coated in the rubber/wax stuff. That included the aloris tool holders.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Just the BXA 16 tool holder is $204 new.

 

[Strouty]

Well, it is not new.

I am not even sure it will be useful, but worst case I can resell it. I am looking at another lot of aloris stuff, will see what happens with that. I feel that used aloris is probably still better than the import stuff, but then I am not a machine shop, I just appreciate quality. I really need to start to learn about negative and positive rake and what inserts to look for. On a interesting (for me anyways) note, I got to use a T7 torx today for the first time. One of the insert steels had that size to hold the insert.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Strouty, this is a book I have referred to through the years on metal cutting tools. I have the 1922 hard copy in my book collection. Just tap the pages to turn like a physical book.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89089662639;view=2up;seq=6;skin=mobile

 

[MikeF2316]

Strouty, this is a book I have referred to through the years on metal cutting tools. I have the 1922 hard copy in my book collection. Just tap the pages to turn like a physical book.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89089662639;view=2up;seq=6;skin=mobile

I just read chapter 1! Now I know why I've been grinding tools they way I've been doing it.

 

[Strouty]

For some reason my phone will only let me view the title, it starts to scroll to the next page, then snaps back to the title. I will have to take a look on the computer tonight.

I have a fairly decent library, but books and I are not friends, at least not until I have a project right in front of me, that way things make more sense to me. I definitely learn better by doing, but I am over cautious when a machine can take fingers off in a flash.

 

[Strouty]

And I did buy another set of aloris tool holders. It came with an older tool post, not the wedge style, I am not familiar with them, but it will go back on eBay to offset some of my costs. Hopefully all that stuff will be here next week, then I can start really figuring things out.

 

[Strouty]

Time to do some reading, I think I have the basic idea down and I am guessing that if the info isn’t in one of these books, I probably don’t need to know it.

 

[OccupantRJ]

That should hold you a while!

 

[Strouty]

Yes, these were all recommended by GJ members and I slowly collected them. I have had the lathe for years, but I only used it to help hold my floor from floating away. At least now it is usable and I am using it.

 

[gearhead1]

I have a knock-off, can’t remember where I got it. Probably Shars. It works perfectly fine. Had it for years with no issue. I’m not using it every day. I bought a lot from Enco and Shars. Enco was reasonably priced, now MSC bought them. MSC is higher priced than necessary to me. I’m not running a high tolerance or production shop, I’m tinkering on my own stuff, jury riggin, redneck engineering, hillbilly handiwork, or whatever you want to call it in your neck of the woods.

Some ideas:
Shars: http://www.shars.com (discount_machine on eBay)
Hemly Tool: http://www.hemlytool.com
Travers: https://www.travers.com
Grizzly: http://www.grizzly.com/cutting-tools-and-tooling

 

[OccupantRJ]

Don’t feel bad, I am just finishing up a Clausing 5914 lathe restoration that I started about 18 or 19 years ago due to life getting in the way, and before I retired I had a complete machine shop at my disposal, so no hurry.

 

[Strouty]

I figure by the time I am 50, I will have a decent setup to be able to make about anything. We are already talking about a 3 axis CNC. I just wait for deals, then pick them up when I find them, most of the time I am no where near ready for it, but when talking scrap prices, it can be hard to pass up. I think a little harder when the prices start to climb, but I still feel I am a bargain shopper and can usually find a good deal.

I miss enco, MSC is no bueno in my book.

 

[ez-duzit]

Use your old Enco account and get a discount.
Copy of a post I made on another forum regarding an order I placed Friday 8/24:

On MSC's behalf I must say that I received incredible service when I called for this order. Up front I told the nicest sales girl, Sarah, that I didn't have any part numbers for what I needed and that I needed some technical advice. She put me immediately in touch with the tech guy and stayed on the line the whole while, even when I had to go out to the shop to check for a part number on the 3/4" boring bar, which had no markings whatsoever, meaning the tech guy had to judge it by dimensions I then gave him while mic-ing the insert! Then she promised delivery by Monday at no extra charge!

OP--you need multiple holders already setup to bore (various size), face, turn, chamfer, part, knurl, etc. Better than just practicing is to make stuff you actually need. A couple weeks ago I needed to adapt a new saw blade to my pole saw, so grabbed an aluminum bar and just began.

 

[jonesg]

I think at this point, I need to understand what the tooling is and what it does. I wouldn't know a useful piece from a useless piece of tooling right now.

Start with what you need to make and the tooling required to get it done.

 

[My Old Tools]

You can do HSS with inserts. I love my A R Warner HSS insert tooling.
https://www.arwarnerco.com/category-s/151.htm

 

[Strouty]

Once I figure out what I need, I will be getting some HSS inserts.

SHARS had a decent sale going on with the XL holders, I ended up buying a few, I figure being able to hold 3/4” tooling is a good thing.