Homemade Boring Bars

[Oldneweng]

Making up a tool height setting guage I found I needed anothe boring bar to bore out a half inch hole in the stainless steel base.

180588
I already had this one made with a 1/4 inch drill piece but is not long enough.

180589
So I made this one using a piece of 5mm drill as cutter. Was waiting for SWMBO to pick up some 6mm grub screws as a clamp instead of the cap screw which did not fit in the drilled hole.

180590
Here is a close up.

After doing this I did a search for homemade boring bars (should have done it before) and found a superior method. This involves mounting the boring bar blank in the 4 way tool holder and setting it on a slight angle to drill a hole through the end and out the side some way down. This creates a bar that can be used on blind holes, and positions the bar on a specific centre height. Just repeat the same height spacing and grind tip on centre of round. Attach height spacers permenantly.

Anybody have other ideas about making all types of lathe tools as I am interested in doing this. I have a SECO standard carbide holder, diamond shaped tip, a 14mm and a 18mm SECO boring bars, an old style 5/16 square HSS holder and a diamond tool holder Diamond Tool Holder (http://www.eccentricengineering.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=17)

I also have a set of 9, 20mm lathe tools from Paramount but I don't think these are much good. Everything else is homemade from mild steel.

I want to make some more tools myself. I would like suggestions also of materials that are readily available and good for this purpose. Parts off cars are one source that comes to mind but I don't know what is best. Any suggestion are welcome.

Dean

[citybook]

Hi Dean,
have you looked at this thread ?

Shop Made Tools - The Home Shop Machinist & Machinist's Workshop Magazine's BBS (http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=39202)

BigShed has posted this before, so you might have looked at it already - a really interesting read.

Cheers,
Bob.

[Bryan]

Here is a HSS holder I made to emulate the geometry of an 80 degree diamond insert. The idea being to allow turning and facing with one tool. It works very well. The insert holder is included for comparison. On the left is another identical holder after welding and before final machining. I designed them symetrical so they can be either-handed. Material is mild steel. They are machined entirely on the shaper. I've got a drawing somewhere.

[19brendan81]

Cool tools fellas.

I made myself a boring bar out of 20mm mild steel. I milled it to accept a TCMT carbide insert and tapped a thread to hold it in place. The hardest bit was drilling and tapping to keep the insert in the right spot. Needed a second dig in fact. Works very well now though.

Re cars - I read a tip somewhere to grab old shock absorbers as the shaft inf them is nice and round. In fact, I found one on the weekend at the tip. If you know someone who works on trucks I imagine youd be able to get some shocks with pretty decent diameters too. The shock I found is off a car and the shafts about 20mm.

[Bryan]

Someone will point out that the same geometry is possible with a conventional holder by rotating your toolpost 5 degrees and shaping your bit to suit. I am aware of this. I did it the way I did so the toolpost could be left alone, in keeping with the quick-change concept as I understand it.

[Oldneweng]

Hi Dean,
have you looked at this thread ?

Shop Made Tools - The Home Shop Machinist & Machinist's Workshop Magazine's BBS (http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=39202)

BigShed has posted this before, so you might have looked at it already - a really interesting read.

Cheers,
Bob.

Yes I am working thru it at present

Dean

[RayG]

Hi Dean,

You may have missed it but there were a couple of threads on home made small boring bars last year,

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/making-small-boring-bars-116980/

Regards
Ray

[Oldneweng]

Brendan and Ray.

I did a longish post last night and while typing when nearly finished somehow pressed the wrong keys, different windows flashed up then, the lot was gone. Happened to me couple of times now. I just gave up in disgust. What I pressed was something to do with ctrl key I think. I wish I knew how to save as I go along.

Anyway will use shocker shaft and see how it goes.

Have read that thread now Ray. Thanks.

Am going to start a thread on the centre height gauge I wanted the small boring bar for next.

Dean

[19brendan81]

Ha ha, I hate it when that happens...can be very frustrating.

Good luck with your search..im sure you'll find something.

[jack620]

Yeah, me too. I sometimes type long posts in Word first, then cut & paste into the forum.

[Big Shed]

Yeah, me too. I sometimes type long posts in Word first, then cut & paste into the forum.

Only problem with using Word is that your post on the forum will have lots of formatting symbols in it, such as this :p:p.

Better to use Notepad, which is a plain text editor, that way the poor mods don't have to clean up your post:no:

As for saving as you go along when using the forum editor, just highlight what you have typed so far and do a Ctrl-C (copy) and everything sits in memory. If you then have a crash, or a snafu, you can start again and do a Ctrl-V (paste) and everything you had up to to your last Ctrl-C will be back again.

On long posts you can do the Ctrl-C a few times as you go along, only the last copy stays in memory.

[Big Shed]

On the subject of small boring bars, I just use round HSS and grind it to suit, then put it in a boring bar holder for my QCTP (the one with the V in the bottom.

No need for brazing or welding to square bars.

I usually keep a stock of different diameters round HSS (CTC Tools is a good source).

[jack620]

After doing this I did a search for homemade boring bars (should have done it before) and found a superior method. This involves mounting the boring bar blank in the 4 way tool holder and setting it on a slight angle to drill a hole through the end and out the side some way down. This creates a bar that can be used on blind holes, and positions the bar on a specific centre height. Just repeat the same height spacing and grind tip on centre of round. Attach height spacers permenantly.

Dean,
Can you provide a link for this?
Chris

[Grahame Collins]

I did a longish post last night and while typing when nearly finished somehow pressed the wrong keys, different windows flashed up then, the lot was gone. Happened to me couple of times now. I just gave up in disgust. What I pressed was something to do with ctrl key I think. I wish I knew how to save as I go along.
n

Thank God for that! You are not alone ,sir .
Its not just Moi then.

What works for me is to save it into word and C& P it back later into the post reply box.

Grade 12 bolts make good material for boring bars as they are stronger and do not suffer deflection to the extent that M / steel does.

Look for multiple lines on the head of the hex bolt.The more (radial ) lines on the head, the stronger the bolt.

I hope this helps

Grahame

[Oldneweng]

When I am uploading pics I tend to use the preview post function to organise the pic layout and text together. This makes it a bit more complex to create in an external app but I think I should start using notepad for this reason. ohh I am not using it now, and I have had a couple of drinks. Careful now!

Fred

I only have broken drills as round hss but have looked at CTC Tools site and when I have some money will get a stock of stuff from them.

Chris

I have been doing a lot of reading of the Shop Made Tools - The Home Shop Machinist & Machinist's Workshop Magazine's BBS (http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=39202) forum and it may have been in here. At about 140 pages of post I'm afraid it would be imposible to find. More detail.

The idea is to drill a hole for a round piece of hss in a boring bar blank. For my purposes the blank is machined in the lathe from square steel. Machine it to required size. Fit this blank into the tool post and rotate post to enable the blank to be drilled to a suitable size for the hss on hand. The drill hole should enter the edge of the blank face nearest to the front of the lathe. The idea is to drill a hole so the hss will extend out the end of the blank and to the front of it to provide clearance.

180961
This is a quick and dirty drawing. The original post suggested the hole exit about 2inches back down the shaft. The hss is ground with cutting edges to suit and can be used for a blind hole. Set the blank up in the toolpost, at the right angle and height, mount the drill bit in the chuck for drilling. Maybe start with a centre drill.

Hopefully this is clearer to follow.

Graham

No you are not alone, darn it all. Thanks for info.

Dean

[Dave J]

Hi Dean,
I have lost many posts as well, I tried note pad but it was an extra window that needed to be open, and seemed to make it more complicated than it needed to be, for me anyway.

After losing a lot of posts on different forums for one reason or another, I now left click and hold it down to highlight the hole post including picture links, then right click and copy.
This way if something buggers up you can just right click and paste it back in again. The only way this would bugger up is if the computer shut down completely.

On larger posts, I copy to where I am up to regularly in between typing. Just remember if you copy a link to paste in your post, re copy the post after it. I have missed doing this sometimes, lost the post, thought no problem :cool:, then when I went to paste it, all I had was a link copied and not the post.:o :doh:

With getting a link to certain posts in the future, if you right click on the post number (top right) and select copy short cut, the link will then take people strait to that post.

Chris,
You can search just that thread for boring bar. Just use the "search this thread" in the top right.

Dave

[Oldneweng]

Another problem I suffered recently. I did a largish reply complete with several pics. Next day SWMBO asked to see the post. Couldn't find it. Looked everywhere, did a search, checked all my posts. Nothing. It was only because she asked to see it I realised what had happened. I guess I clicked on the preview post button instead of the submit button. Note to self, check it is posted!

Dave.

Thanks for the copy link tip. I will try to remember that one. Much easier. To highlight the whole post you can use the "CTRL A" key combo, and then as you are there anyway "CTRL C". The whole post is copied to clipboard. As you say having Notepad, or any other app in use is an added complication.

If I was using my PC it wouln't be so bad as it has 2 monitors and I could have Notepad on the second monitor but I rarely use the PC because I am doing this lying down in bed with the notebook mounted on the pivoting arm I made which holds it almost perfectly above me and can easily be swung away if needed. Why would I go into the cold study and sit down at the desk?

Dean

[jack620]

Dean,
thanks for the pic. Now I get it.
Chris

[azzrock]

ive thought about making some braised tip boring bars my self.
I usually just use ones ive ground out of 10mm square hss.
it can be a bit tricky and ive ruined a far few. makes me treat them fairly
carefully when cutting.Here is some photos of a few. they my not be the best formed
cutting tools but they do work.
ive been trying to improve the quality of my photos with little succes181131

181132

181133

181134.

[Oldneweng]

Hi there. The problem with that method is that each one takes a whole piece of HSS and if you damage it, it is finished, only limited sharpenings and a fair amount of work to make. I am a long way from engineering supplies and like to make do with available stuff if I can. Drill bits etc make good tips. I have made one like yours but was only small and fitted into a block of steel for clamping. I need cutting centre set at 22mm above base of tool post. Different if you have qctp with height adjustment but I have not seen the need for these on my lathe.

Dean