Parting: With Cold Hard Cash?

[ckelloug]

Is anybody else fed up with HSS parting blades that were made on the same production line as Chinese butter in the melamine scare? I am quite disappointed that I can't find new USA made HSS parting blades in my Ameritool catalog and that the ones the previous owner of my lathe left me are from India and about as hard as a wet noodle.

Maybe if we band together, we can get some decent ones.

I sent in a query to my rep at Crucible Metals today and he said that they can get them made and but there is a $350 minimum order and that they are about $25 each US with an 8 week lead time. On the bright side, they are available in Rex 76 tool steel with a Rockwell hardness of 70! Take a look at the PDF on the following page: http://www.crucibleservice.com/produ...al/toolbit.cfm

I was interested in the 5/8 x 1/16 x 5 version.

The 20 or so blades in the minimum order represents what may be a lifetime supply for me and a show stopper. On the other hand, If there are 15-18 more people around here that would be willing to buy one, I would probably be willing to buy the lot, and sell everybody theirs at cost plus the price of a padded envelope and postage.

This may be a horribly bad idea but I figured I'd float it. Depending on how the minimum order amount works, we might also be able to pad the order out with other wierd stuff we "need".

Tell me what you all think of this idea. If we order by Christmas, we can give them to SWMBO's as Valentines gifts since they are almost as hard as diamonds

Regards all,

Cameron

[Teenage_Machinist]

LOL!


I am OK for parting blades but if you look for 1/2 T shape LittleMachineShop has the USA ones as does A2Z CNC

[Doc Nickel]

I haven't used a HSS parting blade since I got an Iscar carbide-insert blade.

Well, I take that back- I've used a thin one of questionable parentage for making small O-ring grooves in aluminum, but that's about it.

Doc.

[tattoomike68]

If you are eating weld and such you need carbide. so at that point a foundry is no help.

If you want kick a$$ HSS parting blades ask a screw machinist , they run machines that part off parts every few seconds.

One rule is a parting blade that is too thin will never hold up.

Screw machine shops use bigger parting tools, if the parting tool fails it then in turn lets the machine snap the next dril, tap, countebore and gang turning tools and sparks are flying and $1,000 worth of tools are trashed in 2.5 seconds. they avoid that with a stout parting tool.

Get a good .1875" + carbide insert parting tool and dont baby it. turn it upside down and have the oil blasting on it.

Thats my points , tool upside down, carbide fast with lots of feed and blast it with oil dont be shy.

[ckelloug]

Ian,

The cutoff blades at little machine shop are indeed USA made from Arthur Warner but they are M2 HSS. This is fairly soft as HSS steels go but fine for aluminum and 1018 and the like. Rex 76 is at the other end of the spectrum being only a bit softer than the softest carbide.

[Bill Pace]

I'm with Doc on the dedicated carbide insert cut-off bars -- what an amazing difference in my ability to do a cut off! Mine is a Newcomer brand - from Enco (on sale & free shipping!) My mentor Lane told me about them --

I would just dread trying to make a cut, too many times having the thing crash, since I've got the insert tool I havent had a crash, and I just recently changed the first bit out.

[BadDog]

Likewise, I have 3 (different) of the Sandvic parting blades and love them. Balked at the price at first, but now I wouldn't be without them. And I first got hooked on them with my old 11" Rockwell. Night and day difference, words just don't do it justice.

But then I tried it on my new 17" lathe... It'll slice off a 2" bar in about (seems like) 10 to 15 seconds on power feed! Prettiest little blue clock springs, tightly wound and up to about 3/4 to 1" diameter... And I paid only about $20 each for my last 2 blade acquisitions, and one of those came with a holder!

[Fasttrack]

Likewise, I have 3 (different) of the Sandvic parting blades and love them. Balked at the price at first, but now I wouldn't be without them. And I first got hooked on them with my old 11" Rockwell. Night and day difference, words just don't do it justice.

But then I tried it on my new 17" lathe... It'll slice off a 2" bar in about (seems like) 10 to 15 seconds on power feed! Prettiest little blue clock springs, tightly wound and up to about 3/4 to 1" diameter... And I paid only about $20 each for my last 2 blade acquisitions, and one of those came with a holder!

Isn't that awsome!? I don't think I'd have the balls to try parting on power feed on most lathes, but I don't even give it a second thought on my 16" Pacemakers. Makes me feel like a "real" machinist

Ckelloug - 25 bucks is a bit steep for HSS parting blades, imo. I'll think on it, though. Another option that I've seen in the shops here quite a bit is to get a piece of 5/8" or etc piece of Tantung or Rex 85 or what-have-you and grind the last 1" into a parting tool. I'd like to meet the poor bast*rd who had to grind them, though

[sch]

FWIW McMaster has T15 parting tools in several heights and
thicknesses, about $30. No mention on where they are
sourced but a phone call might prove helpful, along with
McMasters reputation. They also list M2, M35 and M45 alloys
available.

[ckelloug]

Thanks for the insight on this one guys.

It looks like getting HSS cutoffs in bulk is really not worth doing as opposed to just odd. Mcmaster was a good point and also, checking Ian's reference one level down, Arthur Warner looks like they carry some of the better HSS grades too.

I've been cutting S7 into tap guide bushings for various taps as I had scored 20" of 2 1/2 diameter a while back when the local crucible office let me have a few drops as a labor day gift.

My inherited (from the previous lathe owner) Indian Bipco HSS cutoff blades are worn away like a pencil sharpener eats pencils trying to part this stuff. I tried at it with an antique 1/16 wide Pratt and Whitney cutoff from an ebay junk box and it worked but my holder was the wrong size for it and I snapped it. I came to the conclusion that a narrow very hard cutoff tool would work better than a soft wide one. In retrospect what I probably needed was a hard wide one like an Iscar insert tool.

Anyway, I ordered a micro-100 brazed carbide cutoff tool today and should have it tomorrow since it was tagged onto my emergency drill chuck disaster mitigation order. . . (Don't drill with a double ended endmill in a drill chuck. If it spins, you won't have anything that functions as a drillchuck about 2 milliseconds later; Corollary: If you break an HSS bit off in a hole and then drill for it with a double end carbide end mill, what do you do when you break the endmill besides curese the destruction of the drill chuck. Of course, the answer is to drill from the other side and then push the broken tools out. . . which is much cheaper if you do it before ruining the drill chuck.)