• Scam Alert. Members are reminded to NOT send money to buy anything. Don't buy things remote and have it shipped - go get it yourself, pay in person, and take your equipment with you. Scammers have burned people on this forum. Urgency, secrecy, excuses, selling for friend, newish members, FUD, are RED FLAGS. A video conference call is not adequate assurance. Face to face interactions are required. Please report suspicions to the forum admins. Stay Safe - anyone can get scammed.
  • The 2026 Calgary Area Meetup is set for Saturday May 30th at 10am. The signup thread is here! Robinhood has graciously offered to host the meetup again this year. Please note that you MUST RSVP to the notice linked above if you wish to come.

Lathe tooling?

F

fireguyfire

Member
I have a Luxcut 1136 lathe made in Taiwan in 1978, and it’s actually a pretty good lathe.
It came with some old tooling and I’m finally getting around to setting the lathe up as perfectly as possible, and upgrade the tooling.
I like HSS tooling on a mid size lathe like this, and I’m thinking of buying a ready ground set of 3/8” HSS bits, and then I will grind custom bits for the specialized stuff I run into. I figured it would be easy to buy a basic pre ground set as a base to start from.
Can anyone recommend a brand that’s decent quality for a set of 3/8” pre ground lathe cutters?
 
I personally wouldn't buy a set because they are generally poorly ground. I would just buy some decent HSS and grind your own as you need them.

Have a look at this (long) thread on Hobby Machinist for three excellent and very useful shapes.

Models for grinding HSS Lathe Tools

In a recent thread by @Darkbluesky, http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/lathe-accessories-tools-ideas-of-what-to-buy.62043/#post-511618, @ttabbal joked about sending me blanks to be ground into lathe tools ... he was joking! But it got me to thinking ... yeah, I know it's not a good thing...
www.hobby-machinist.com

Models for grinding HSS Lathe Tools
 
fireguyfire said:
I have a Luxcut 1136 lathe made in Taiwan in 1978, and it’s actually a pretty good lathe.
It came with some old tooling and I’m finally getting around to setting the lathe up as perfectly as possible, and upgrade the tooling.
I like HSS tooling on a mid size lathe like this, and I’m thinking of buying a ready ground set of 3/8” HSS bits, and then I will grind custom bits for the specialized stuff I run into. I figured it would be easy to buy a basic pre ground set as a base to start from.
Can anyone recommend a brand that’s decent quality for a set of 3/8” pre ground lathe cutters?
Click to expand...
I got a tip before from @Susquatch and normally I will not buy US made anything right now. BUT I do not know chinese supplier of these... HSS insert tools. The convenience of carbide indexable tooling in HSS.

Use T-15 HSS for:
  • Interrupted Cuts
  • Underpowered Spindles
  • Gummy material like stainless, aluminum, and brass
  • Less than rigid setups

Arthur R Warner Company HSS inserts and tooling
 
We had a thread a couple of years ago that covered similar territory. Still relevant:

K

Thread 'Best Cutting Tools for Lathe Beginner'

It may be an unpopular opinion but for a beginner I would put the HSS and brazed carbide into an inaccessible box (you might need a bit of HSS someday to grind a special trepanning cutter or something similar) and purchase appropriate insert tooling.

Do you have a grinder with guides or do you plan to grind freehand? How will you avoid ruining your diamond wheel when sharpening the brazed carbide?

As a beginner there is lots to learn so why add yet another new skill to the mix? Life is short; spend your time making stuff rather than attempting to learn tool grinding!
  • Like

I maintain that the steves-workshop page I linked to is the best concise description of grinding HSS lathe tools so far. Grind 3 surfaces and 1 (optional) radius and the tool is done! Just need a basic bench grinder with cheap coarse wheel. The tool will work straight off the grinder but the edges can also be refined (and prolonged) with abrasives.

Tool Grinding

Tool grinding
www.steves-workshop.co.uk www.steves-workshop.co.uk

Despite the impression you might get from the Internet, it is NOT hard to grind HSS lathe tools. Feel free to practise with 3/8" key stock. Set the grinder rest to one of the angles and use a sharpie to draw a guide (on the rest) for the other angle. The angles DON'T have to be perfect to cut--close is good enough. Have at it.

Craig
 
Loosenut said:
They look like carbide inserts but are tool steel of some kind, HSS probably.
Click to expand...
Yes they are HSS inserts. That's AR Warner's claim to fame.
For the biggest bang for your buck just grab some 3/8 HSS blanks and grind them to suit. I have a whole drawer full of HSS in various sizes and shapes. Any shape I want is just minutes at the belt grinder.
 
mbond said:
is there a good case for HSS inserts? I'm struggling to think of one
Click to expand...
Real or hypothetical? Maybe AI teams up and burns up our grinders when we turn them on.....
Aliens burn grinding wheels in their spaceships and they are sneaky little thieves?
Inserts would make sense to me then, but until then I am going to keep grinding perfectly good pieces of hss into sketchy looking tool bits.........


He who makes no mistakes does no more than watch the world go by...... the rest of us are on a first name basis at the ER. 😛 😉
 
mbond said:
is there a good case for HSS inserts? I'm struggling to think of one
Click to expand...

I use them for a few things. I have an ER Warner kit and a MESA tool that I use almost exclusively for smithing. HSS leaves a much better finish at low speeds. But like anything else, sometimes it breaks - especially with razor sharp edges. A HSS blank would require regrinding and a lost index. But an indexable insert can be replaced without losing your place at all. Just pick up where you left off and go. Yes, the cost adds up but it's still small potatoes compared to the overall cost/value of the job.

More and more often, I use carbide inserts for Aluminium that are sharper than the ones for steel, and they cut fairly well. But nothing else cuts better than sharp HSS.
 
140mower said:
Real or hypothetical? Maybe AI teams up and burns up our grinders when we turn them on.....
Aliens burn grinding wheels in their spaceships and they are sneaky little thieves?
Inserts would make sense to me then, but until then I am going to keep grinding perfectly good pieces of hss into sketchy looking tool bits.........


He who makes no mistakes does no more than watch the world go by...... the rest of us are on a first name basis at the ER. 😛 😉
Click to expand...
Wow just like on Cheers where everyone knows your name .. Norm!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top