Going a bit off topic, but I think that what you call drill rod in the US, is probably what we call silver steel in the UK. ?It is plain carbon steel, something like 1 or 1.1% C and nothing else (maybe apart from enough Mn to soak up impurities). ?Annealed, you can file or machine it to whatever shape you want, but hardened and tempered it is a cutting tool of nearly pure iron carbide for any steel softer than itself and especially for brass components, such as the profiled cones for steam engine injectors. ?You can also buy standard specs of alloy steel that can also be annealed or hardened and tempered any number of times.
One little tip if you can't easily get what you need in small quantities of bar stock is to use high strength bolts. ?A grade X (imp) or 12.9 (metric) Allen screw can be filed (just) but will very readily cut softer metal if given a cutting edge. ?They are amenable to annealing. ?You might even be able to harden them further, as the strength grades for nuts & bolts are based solely on mechanical properties and not composition, so could be of any composition and heat treatment that allows those properties. ?I have made a number of small parallel reamers from them.
The first railway wheel tread & flange profiles I saw being produced on an ancient lathe in Doncaster works in about 1975 were provided by a single whole profile tool. ?I later learned that the tool was not a manufactured piece but traditionally an apprentice job, to be marked and cut out by hand. ?Maybe they were allowed a milling machine for roughing out. ?They started life about 2" thick and just had the top face ground for sharpening. ?The lathe turned very slowly, but did both wheels at once, with the tools just being forced straight in. Of course, this needed both L & R hand tools. ?You tell that to the kids of today...
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Eddie
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------ Original Message ------
From: dejongray@...
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, March 7th 2024, 19:11
Subject: Re: [SouthBendLathe] Indexable carbide insert turning tools
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Bill; I agree wholehearted with you. I make emergency taps, and all kinds of 'experimental' tool bis from drill rod and o1tool steel - cheep,easy to heat treet and reuseable. And fun to do
Ray
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On Thursday, March 7, 2024 at 08:45:29 AM PST, Bill in OKC too via groups.io <wmrmeyers@...> wrote:
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Yes, you certainly can.
William R. Meyers, MSgt, USAF(Ret.)?
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I haven’t used a lantern post in about 35 years. I don’t miss it. When I bought my South Be d 10L Heavy back in 1983, it came with one. I used it for several years, becoming increasingly frustrated with it. I ended up buying a Dorian BXA. Great post. You can use anything you want in it, including HSS tooling.?
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I really don’t recommend carbon steel. Even finding that for lathe tooling is going to be hard to do. You can grind your own HSS or brazed carbide, or even, if you have the proper grinder, carbide inserts.
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Mel
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On Mar 7, 2024, at 9:45?AM, Bill in OKC too via groups.io <wmrmeyers@...> wrote:
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Well crud. If you are even remotely interested in reading my polemic on toolposts, you'd have to hit the "show trimmed text" or just read the quoted text here...?
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Somehow trimming the 4 or 5 previous quoted messages trimmed my text too. Maybe I should stop doing this on my phone?
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:)
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Bill in OKC?
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William R. Meyers, MSgt, USAF(Ret.)?
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Aphorisms to live by:
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.?
SEMPER GUMBY!
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Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome.
Physics doesn't care about your schedule.
The only reason I know anything is because I've done it wrong enough times to START to know better.
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Expect in one hand, expectorate in the other. See which one gets full first.
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On Thursday, March 7, 2024 at 07:39:39 AM CST, Bill in OKC too via groups.io <wmrmeyers@...> wrote:
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Because lanterns work better for some things. And Blocks work better for some other things, so you should have one of those, too. Likewise a QCTP and lots of tool holders to fit it. Depends on what you're doing as to which is best.?
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Lantern will let you push the size limits of your lathe a bit better than the others. A block tool post works better if you have a small number of tools you usually use, and a QCTP is is best for high volume production work on complex parts.?
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One advantage to the lantern post is that you can forge specialty tools in a high carbon tool steel and get incredibly sharp edges for tricky work. With a couple hundred years of fantastic work to back it up. ;)?
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Blocks & QCTPs are more convenient but not quite as versatile. Which is best depends on what you need to do. And you can still do good work even if you don't have the best toolpost. It's probably going to be a bit slower, but still doable. I put a QCTP on my Atlas TH42 when I bought it, but kept the lantern post. And if I ever get my SB Heavy 10L restored, it's getting a QCTP also, but I'll be keeping the lantern post too.? Never can tell when you might need a bit more reach.
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Bill in OKC?
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William R. Meyers, MSgt, USAF(Ret.)?
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Aphorisms to live by:
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.?
SEMPER GUMBY!
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Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome.
Physics doesn't care about your schedule.
The only reason I know anything is because I've done it wrong enough times to START to know better.
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Expect in one hand, expectorate in the other. See which one gets full first.
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On Thursday, March 7, 2024 at 02:00:35 AM CST, eddie.draper@... via groups.io <eddie.draper@...> wrote:
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Why are people still using lanterns?? Get yourself a chunk of square steel, hold in 4 jaw, hole through the middle, clamp down on top of compound, milling cutter in chuck, 8 tapped holes & you've got a 4 way that holds any sort of tool.? This assumes you don't want to lay out �?$ on a QCTP.
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Eddie
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Snip!
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