Making a D-Bit from a Grade 5 bolt

[ckelloug]

I had mentioned in ETjr's thread about all the world being turning stock making a BP gib handle from a grade 5 bolt yesterday. Today, I used the rest of that 6 inch bolt to make a D-bit to mill a gland in my epoxy granite sample mold in order to seal it with a leak proof packing. (Floor load of epoxy in the lab and the mold glued to the bench is bad).

I don't know who it was or when here that explained the secret of D-bits but my grade 5 bolt milled a perfect gland grove in UHMW. It was on size and profile even!

Thanks to the community here for that good tip as I wouldn't have known what to do had I not read that post eons ago.

Regards all,

Cameron

[Evan]

I grind up special bits all the time, usually from broken or worn out cutters. One that I especially like and is easy to make is to turn a used up milling cutter into a mini fly cutter. All it takes is to grind the nose at a slant and then put a normal cutting edge on the one side only with a slight radius on it like a lathe tool. This makes a good tool for finishing surface cuts.