# Tools of interest



## PhotonFanatic (Jan 12, 2007)

I thought it might be helpful if those buying and using tools for their lathes could post info about that tool, i.e., how well it performs, where to buy it, price, etc. Might save many of us some time and money.

Here's my suggestion--a great carbide drill, three flutes, that works wonderfully in 6061. Price seems reasonable to me, at $18.10 on ebay. My purchase of this has turned me on to SGS, the manufacturer--they appear to have quite the extensive offering of drills and endmills. Pricey, but that's where ebay comes in.


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## gadget_lover (Jan 12, 2007)

I have LOTS of tools that I use with my lathe and mill. I should make a monster post that lists them all. 

For the sake of posterity, linking to an E-bay page is not a great idea. Once the auction is over it eventually goes away. In as little as a few months the link becomes invalid.

The drill mentioned by PhotonFanatic is described as....


> SGS 13/32 micrograin solid carbide drill, series 103, 3 flute. Part no.53126. They are "NEW". They have 2 7/8"" of flute length and are 4 1/2" OAL.
> Series 103 drills are used in cast iron, high silicon aluminum, alloy steels, and nonferrous materials. They are used for greater hole accuracy at higher feed rates and less tool deflection than cobalt or other carbide drills.



Daniel


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## JimH (Jan 12, 2007)

Daniel,

I am the proud owner of a new mini lathe and mini mill. What exactly do you mean by "available" and "save here".


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## Nitroz (Jan 12, 2007)

JimH said:


> Daniel,
> 
> I am the proud owner of a new mini lathe and mini mill. What exactly do you mean by "available" and "save here".



I think he was quoting the Ebay ad.


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## JimH (Jan 12, 2007)

Nitroz said:


> I think he was quoting the Ebay ad.






you're right. I just read the post in the link.


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## gadget_lover (Jan 12, 2007)

Congats Jim. Hope you have lots of fun with the new toys.

Thanks for pointing out my goof. I (obviously) skimmed over the text I cut and pasted.


I guess I should make a positive contribution to this thread....

I picked up the Harbor Freight 4 inch RT (rotary table). Part number 47052-0VGA. It's small, but at only 2 inches toll it works well with the the micro mill. A 6 inch RT that is 4 inch tall would have taken too much extra space. Here's the table mounted on my micro mill.





It goes on sale at Harbor Freight every few months. I think I paid $75 for mine. 

It goes well with a chuck to hold the work. I made an adapter for a two inch chuck shown in the picture. HF sells item 3151-0VGA which is a 3 inch, 4 jaw chuck with a backplate to mate with the table.

If you have the headroom, the larger 6 inch RT with indexing is much more versitile. It has an MT2 taper in the middle for mounting chucks, centers, collets, etc. It sells for about $150.

Daniel


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## scott.cr (Jan 13, 2007)

Hey Daniel, what tool/end mill did you use to cut the grooves in that piece?

Just curious...... I have a spin index that I was going to use to try to cut some grip-assisting lines into a screw-on battery cap for my Microfire. Was considering using a spotting drill.


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## gadget_lover (Jan 13, 2007)

Scott, t hat's actually a red herring. The bar is a piece of scrap that I put that in there for demonstration purposes to show someone how you'd use the RT with the mill. The piece was turned on a CNC lathe at the local high school and the grooves you see were badly cut with a knurling tool.

The picture below has a knob I did make with the RT. I turned teh knob on the lathe. I made the grooves using a 1/16 inch end mill while the knob was mounted on the RT. I think I rotated the table 20 to 30 degrees between cuts. It makes a nice grippy knob.






Hmmmm. Now to find a tool I can post without taking another picture in the garage. It's 30 degrees out there tonight.

If you have a new lathe, consider using indexible tooling. It looks like the picture below. The tool is basically a steel shank (sized to fit your tool holder) and a matching insert that has two or more tips that can be used. Using indexible tooling means no grinding and it's easily fixed if chipped. The down side is that the little triangles (known as inserts) run from $1.50 to $10.00 per piece. That's not too bad when you figure a hobiest will get months of use from each tip of the triange.

The black part is the shank. The big silver blocks are tool holders for my tool post.






MSC, enco, Harbor Freight all carry indexible tooling. There's a good thread on them in the archives.


Daniel


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## sortafast (Jan 13, 2007)

A little off topic, but along the same lines. Any recomendations on a QC tool post? My main issue would be the difference between a Piston style and a Wedge style QCTP. Which one is better, or is there any real difference performance wise? I have found Piston style ones on Ebay for considerably less than the wedge style and am just curious. Just got an 8x12 from HF and need to spec it out right. Already working on getting a shumatech DRO built for it.

-dave


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## Anglepoise (Jan 13, 2007)

When I started using lathes, we did not have the luxury of Digital Readout
( DRO ). We used simple Dial indicators to measure the exact movement on the X and Y axis.

Worked fine................except for only one thing. Most of these indicators are around 1" travel and when incorporated into a 'stop' and 'measuring ' system they are instantly destroyed if they over travel, when indicator is clamped and carriage crunches up the stem.

So one winds the carriage back to clear swaf and forgets to unlock the Dial indicator holder....another one ruined.

So one day I designed a simple system using magnets. The dial indicator is attached to the carriage and its stop is magnetically drawn to the side of the ground V ways ( red in pic ) . The magnet is strong enough to not move under the deflection of the indicator spring, but on over travel the magnet 'stop' slides along the way. 






Works beautifully and have never damaged an indicator since. 

Same set up on the cross slide axis. 

Second pic shows 'stop' in its 'parked' position when not in use.


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## PhotonFanatic (Jan 13, 2007)

David,

Do you eat off of your lathe?:lolsign:


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## Mirage_Man (Jan 13, 2007)

PhotonFanatic said:


> David,
> 
> Do you eat off of your lathe?:lolsign:



Funny! I was thinking the same thing. Here's what mine looks like right now.. :laughing: You can't really tell from the picture but the chips are up to the bottom of the ways.  The old SB has been gettng a workout lately.


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## Anglepoise (Jan 13, 2007)

PhotonFanatic said:


> David,
> 
> Do you eat off of your lathe?:lolsign:



Thanks for the compliment ( big grin )


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