Sean

The ML1 is a pretty old lady now and it might be kinder ( and more successful) for you to use HSS – At least until you both know each other better!

Norman

Hi ya. Carbide inserts are ready to use straight from the box and usually they are clamped or held in position with a screw . The original idea was to save on discrepancy in grinding and generally obtain a better finish ,but there were some compromises with the spindle speed if you had mixed tool set up IE HSS drills taps etc and overlapping operations. HSStooling generally works out cheaper because it can be ground by hand and reground many times and in many forms parting off turning and chamfering to name a few Today in most machine shops there will be some CNCs and the carbide inset as come into its own mainly because of repeatability, all you have to do is turn the tip round over etc and the machined sizes e should be as was before the tip started wearing .Hope this helps and have fond with your lathe Stewart

I wonder – why has no-one offered HSS inserts for us amateurs to use on the carbide holders we bought and then put to one side?

Or if they do, name & address, please.

Cheers, Tim

I think you failed to notice the word 'amateurs', Andrew

Tim

Hello Thor

Yes, some of the list you linked may well be just what I need, so is there a UK source? US stuff always comes with a massive postal bill …

Cheers, Tim

Tim, Re HSS inserts Arno werkzeuge do hss in most of the carbide geometries Here is a box I got at a good discount but are still very spendy

Delivery costs from US to Canada are no better, even if we are just on top of them. I just ordered a casting kit from PM Research in NY State. Their address is about 100 km from a border crossing – which also happens to be the closest border crossing to my home (about the same distance). The kit was $129.00 ; the shipping was $43.65.

(It was taken to NYC first and flown it in from there).

FWIW, I usually get better results in those cases using the brazed carbide toolbits rather than inserts.

I think an ML1 might be a bit like my 1937 M-type when it comes to carbide inserts. The flat belts will slip under the load of carbide tooling, allowing the spindle to almost stall, tearing the point off the tool. Very frustrating.

Learn to sharpen HSS. You will never be sorry. LH Sparey's book "The Amateur's Lathe" has a very good but simple rundown on how-to. To get started all you need is a basic knife tool. You just put a 15-degree angle on three faces of a tool bit blank and away you go. The angle can be within 5 or even 10 degrees each way of the desired 15 and the tool will still work.. No need for fancy rests and attachments. A standard six-inch bench grinder with standard coarse and fine wheels will do the job perfectly. You might practice first on some bits of scrap square mild steel bar to the get the feel of it.

Take time to sit down and study the subject, and then to practice it in the workshop until you get the hang of it. You will be rewarded many times over for the little bit of time invested.

Just buy some 1/4 in square HSS blanks and a cheap and cheerful bench grinder. First tool to grind is a right hand knife tool. That will get you started at minimum cost.

Russell

Warners make the ones that LMS do

I would say it helps to have already been introduced to grinding in a working environment. You can't beat that kind of introduction and it would be a little unfair on a total stranger to wheels to expect them to pick up a book and get it immediately, tangential tooling would be a good start in this case but for many of us it's second nature to just quickly create proper geometry for cutting quite quickly and therefore unnecessary to spend inordinate sums on tangential holders.

Michael W