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  1. #16
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    Losing the coating should be fine for most situations (certainly mild steel and most non-ferrous), but it is definitely worth getting a pack of sharp, coated inserts if you do much with stainless

  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Karl Robbers View Post
    What issues have you had with the Chinese blades?
    According to H&F the 25mm parting off block and 32mm blade are Taiwanese sourced which is usually better but...
    Late to the party. Use the H&F 2mm blades, they seem to be good, you'll break them if you try to get the insert to work when it's worn out though - wouldn't have any misgivings about using them to save a few hundred, especially if just home use.

    Deal direct with the rep, but have the star style and conventional parting blades from Taegutec (in larger 6 or 8mm at least)....if Hairy is selling them too, they all seem to work satisfactorily.

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by malb View Post
    Some years ago, (2003ish) boss bought a lathe for the factory and a load of H+F tooling, including a 16mm parting tool holder, double ended blade and inserts. The actual blade was not much better than hoop iron, and the inserts would regularly crumple the lower leading edge and spit the insert out. First one went back for replacement in a couple of days and we went through a couple of others before giving up on them completely, and buying a decent system that was capable of doing the job intended. No more parting issues then.

    I accept that that was a long while ago, and they may have changed their sources in the meantime, but what they have offered in their catalogues in the past year appear to be similar blades.
    Part of the reason for my decision, right or wrong, was my gut feeling. As it stands, the price has come down to a hair under $700, but what I'm confident that I will have is a system that will hold up and perform well.
    I can recall parting off blades at a previous employer being so brittle that they broke off using a 1 1/2 HP Chinese lathe, so I know what you mean as far as quality and metallurgy.
    My situation is probably a little unusual maybe in that I am not a working machine shop as such, but I am a Boilermaker with an interest and some abilities (or so I delude myself) in the machining area. I have a full time day job, but live in a rural area and also service a couple of small operators (my first apprentice being one of them) by machining shafts and similar for all manner of machines. My work therefore is usually "I need this in a hurry" jobs so as to minimise downtime, often overnight, therefore It is worth it to me to spend a bit extra for the peace of mind of having good tooling that will hold up and deliver.
    One of the things that I learned from my conversation todat is that the inserts that come with both the tools are ground inserts rather than just as sintered which many of the cheaper inserts may be.
    There is no doubt in my mind that I could read every spec sheet from every manufacturer and still not gain as much useful information as I did from my 15 minute conversation with Robert this morning.
    I will likely try some of the really cheap inserts that are on the market at some point, safe in the knowledge that I also have a few known inserts in stock if they fail miserably.
    I guess at the end of the day, I could possibly have got an equal tooling system cheaper from some other retailer, but Boyar remembered me when I made the call and also remembered what lathe I had, so was able to offer some options straight off the bat. I also prefer to support a small retailer over the greedy giants.
    I'll let you all know how I get on once the tooling arrives and I can use it in anger. Until then, I have an M14X1.5 thread or two to cut with some HSS this weekend.

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by elanjacobs View Post
    Losing the coating should be fine for most situations (certainly mild steel and most non-ferrous), but it is definitely worth getting a pack of sharp, coated inserts if you do much with stainless
    While I do occasionally play with Stainless, it is rare and there usually isn't much of it when I do. Having drilled my fair share of Stainless by hand, I certainly know what you mean though.
    It probably won't happen, but my curious side wants to do a head to head comparison between the H&F supplied and the Boyar inserts, (I wonder if H&F are selling lower grade Kennametal inserts as I have always fond Kennametal to be at the pricey end of the scale) . I guess at the end of the day, a $14 threading insert has 3 sides and even if each side only cuts 1 finished thread on a shaft, that's not too hard to charge out.
    If the parting off and threading inserts perform half as well as the Tungalloy WNMG inserts Boyar supplied me, I will be a very happy camper.

  5. #20
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    Apr 2012
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    Karl for my carbide parting I use the gtn inserts, 2 3 and 4mm. I use the 3's in the 2 mm blade. They are pretty cheap and seem to work ok on most materials.
    The blades were from ebay and the cheap inserts I have bought from ebay and aliexpress.
    The parting blocks I made with ms and they have held up well.

  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by shedhappens View Post
    Karl for my carbide parting I use the gtn inserts, 2 3 and 4mm. I use the 3's in the 2 mm blade. They are pretty cheap and seem to work ok on most materials.
    The blades were from ebay and the cheap inserts I have bought from ebay and aliexpress.
    The parting blocks I made with ms and they have held up well.
    I did consider making my own parting off block, but I chickened out. I have gifted my Son my old lathe, so I might make a parting off block to go with his lathe as I have no carbide tooling to speak of for that lathe.

  7. #22
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    Mar 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by Karl Robbers View Post
    What issues have you had with the Chinese blades?
    According to H&F the 25mm parting off block and 32mm blade are Taiwanese sourced which is usually better but...
    it didn't cut very well, and insert pocket failed after a few insert changes.

  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by snapatap View Post
    it didn't cut very well, and insert pocket failed after a few insert changes.
    The 4 x 32mm blade has performed very well and the inserts hold up well to abuse.
    I always use coolant when parting
    The smaller blade that l use was a bit problematic when i started to use it snappa is right the pocket is weak.
    The problem that i see with this is that when you fit the insert and start parting with it any chatter will cause the insert to move further back in the blade and as a result the tool height becomes lower, because you dont realise this is what has happened more force is applied and the blade is damaged.
    These cheapies work fine for me at home but would not be suitable for manufacturing.
    1018 and 4140 is the nicest to part, 1020 you have to keep pushing through or else it seems to get a hard skin that then needs a fair bit of pressure to get under to get going again.
    EN steels can be tough to part..
    Attached Images Attached Images

  9. #24
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    Do you tap the insert home?

  10. #25
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    Pipeclay i clean the slot and push the insert in, then sit a block of wood on the insert and tap it with a hammer until it is firm, then set the height.
    Then i would do a start of a part with it and recheck the height, sometimes the insert settles in a bit further and i check and maybe readjust the height.
    You can see that the back end of the blade is knackered, i stuffed that in short order but the end with insert in it now i have been using for maybe 4 yrs....

  11. #26
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    Do you not have repeatability with the insert and holder or are you just cautious.

  12. #27
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    Both those... the insert moves lower as it goes further back into the blade, it takes 5 seconds to check it with a height gauge.

  13. #28
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    On the subject of parting off tool height, I noted during my research that at least one of the insert and tool manufacturers specifies the ideal height as 0.1mm above center. I may well be wrong, but I've always aimed for center on every tool.

  14. #29
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    Above centre sounds odd...

    I was told to go for on centre or a hair below

  15. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by elanjacobs View Post
    Above centre sounds odd...

    I was told to go for on centre or a hair below
    I agree.
    As per usual, I'm trying to find the link/page that told me that, but of course I can't find it now. I would have thought that aiming for center would be a good rule of thumb in all situations.

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