Initial experiences.
When I ordered my lathe I also ordered a range of accessories. These included a set of 1/4" brazed carbide tipped tools, fixed and moving steadies, a faceplate and a metric threading kit. Separately, I also ordered some aluminium and steel 1/2" bar in order to test out the lathe and to gain some experience.
When the lathe arrived I set to work to remove all the protective grease from the lathe and generally clean it up. I checked that all the gibs were correctly adjusted and then decided to have a go at turning some metal.
My first problem was that all the tools were too high when mounted in the toolpost. This was because the brazed tips on the tools were higher than the steel shaft of the tool. I set to work and filed the steel shaft thickness down about 1 mm on the underside until I could get the tools at centre height.
After chucking some of the aluminium bar I tentatively made some first cuts. The aluminium machined easily and I was fascinated by the long curls of swarf peeling of the rod. and the finish was very good. I then tried the steel bar. What a difference! The steel would cut but the surface finish was terrible with random ridges along the bar. I tried all the different tools in the set (except the threading tool) but they all produced the same very poor finish. I then tried turning various other scraps of material that were lying around my workshop such as 6 mm diameter nails, old sliders from door bolts etc. These were just as bad. Thinking that it was just me with little experience I experimented for two weeks trying different speeds, different depths of cut, different tool height settings and different feed rates all to no avail. This was extremely frustrating as it was a brand new lathe and the tools were also brand new, what could I be doing wrong? I studied every book that I had on lathe work but could not understand what I was doing wrong. I tried honing the carbide tools using a diamond lap but this made no difference.
I had ordered the carbide tipped tools believing that they would be better and more durable than high speed steel tools. This had been my past experience with circular saw blades for wood working. By this time I had run out of my bars of steel and aluminium having reduced them all to chips with nothing to show for my efforts. I had decided that my first project would be to make a tailstock die holder so I ordered some 1.1/2" round steel, some 10 mm round steel bar and at the same time I ordered some 1/4 in HSS steel tool blanks. These materials duly arrived and I quickly sharpened a HHS tool blank to a general purpose tool shape as shown in the book "The amateurs lathe" by Sparey. I mounted the tool in the toolpost not expecting much difference from the brazed carbide tools. What a surprise! The 1/2" steel bar machined beautifully to a brilliant surface finish. I could not believe that all my problems had just been down to the carbide tipped tools. I tried machining all the same bits of scrap steel I had tried before and every time the finish was good. In the light of this I then started comparing the carbide tools with the home made HSS tool. The HSS tool definitely felt sharper and the the relief angles were much greater. I had learned my first lesson, cheap carbide tools do not work.
Since this experience I have purchased some indexable tip carbide lathe tools and boring bars (Glanze). These work acceptably well (especially the boring bars) but for general purpose use I prefer HSS tooling. With HSS tools finer cuts are possible, the surface finish is generally better and they do not chip on interrupted cuts.
When the lathe arrived I set to work to remove all the protective grease from the lathe and generally clean it up. I checked that all the gibs were correctly adjusted and then decided to have a go at turning some metal.
My first problem was that all the tools were too high when mounted in the toolpost. This was because the brazed tips on the tools were higher than the steel shaft of the tool. I set to work and filed the steel shaft thickness down about 1 mm on the underside until I could get the tools at centre height.
After chucking some of the aluminium bar I tentatively made some first cuts. The aluminium machined easily and I was fascinated by the long curls of swarf peeling of the rod. and the finish was very good. I then tried the steel bar. What a difference! The steel would cut but the surface finish was terrible with random ridges along the bar. I tried all the different tools in the set (except the threading tool) but they all produced the same very poor finish. I then tried turning various other scraps of material that were lying around my workshop such as 6 mm diameter nails, old sliders from door bolts etc. These were just as bad. Thinking that it was just me with little experience I experimented for two weeks trying different speeds, different depths of cut, different tool height settings and different feed rates all to no avail. This was extremely frustrating as it was a brand new lathe and the tools were also brand new, what could I be doing wrong? I studied every book that I had on lathe work but could not understand what I was doing wrong. I tried honing the carbide tools using a diamond lap but this made no difference.
I had ordered the carbide tipped tools believing that they would be better and more durable than high speed steel tools. This had been my past experience with circular saw blades for wood working. By this time I had run out of my bars of steel and aluminium having reduced them all to chips with nothing to show for my efforts. I had decided that my first project would be to make a tailstock die holder so I ordered some 1.1/2" round steel, some 10 mm round steel bar and at the same time I ordered some 1/4 in HSS steel tool blanks. These materials duly arrived and I quickly sharpened a HHS tool blank to a general purpose tool shape as shown in the book "The amateurs lathe" by Sparey. I mounted the tool in the toolpost not expecting much difference from the brazed carbide tools. What a surprise! The 1/2" steel bar machined beautifully to a brilliant surface finish. I could not believe that all my problems had just been down to the carbide tipped tools. I tried machining all the same bits of scrap steel I had tried before and every time the finish was good. In the light of this I then started comparing the carbide tools with the home made HSS tool. The HSS tool definitely felt sharper and the the relief angles were much greater. I had learned my first lesson, cheap carbide tools do not work.
Since this experience I have purchased some indexable tip carbide lathe tools and boring bars (Glanze). These work acceptably well (especially the boring bars) but for general purpose use I prefer HSS tooling. With HSS tools finer cuts are possible, the surface finish is generally better and they do not chip on interrupted cuts.