Thread: Diamond tool holder

Nice, thanks for that, seems a reasonable price too.

Originally Posted by Pete F

G'day Guys, I'm wondering if anyone has tried the diamond tool holder on their Hercus? http://www.eccentricengineering.com.au/ I am still using the lantern style tool post (which I don't really like), but thought this may be an option before I change to a QCTP.

Pete

I hope that I am not breaking any rules by linking to another site, but its a very humorous post and may help you with your dilemma.
Darrell
http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=31901

Hi Guys.
Well after reading the funny post that I linked to in the previous post I was inspired to have a go at making my own tool holder. Now this was very quick to build in fact it will take longer to resize the photos and write this post then it took to build the holder, about an hour and a half. In the first photo are the main components a ¼ inch drive socket a piece of ½” high carbon bar in an annealed state (a pry bar that was in my friends shed when it burnt down) and a beer. Now that beer may play a role later. In the second photo is the setup I used to determine what angle the tool would need to be held at to present a natural 60 degrees for threading without needing any special grinding. In photo three is the bar with the angle cut. In photo 4 a setup for milling the bar for the socket to seat into. In photo 5 the socket being heated to red hot to burn off the chrome and to anneal (I have done a lot of stuff with tool steel over the years and found it unnecessary to bury in sand or ashes for things to anneal properly, as long as you heat upon something that acts as a heat sink to let the part cool slowly). In photo 6 is the set up for welding. In photo 7 is the part after welding. In photo 8 the part being tapped. In photo 9 set up in the band saw to be split. In photo10 a shot in the lathe. In 11 another angle. In summery this was a fun thing to build, it seemed to work ok. In the end the angle wasn’t correct for threading after all (probably due to third item in the first photo.
Darrell

Hi Darrell

Looks pretty cool, some pretty serious clearance on the threading tool though. I can't get the homeshop machinist site to load. Can anyone else, or is it just me?

Anyway I calculate that the angle between the two blades of your protractor from the second photo should have been 35.26 deg. Does that sound right?

Cheers
Steve

Hi Steve
The angle I came up with was 35 degrees the set up was a little crude so I expect your number is correct. How did you come up with it?
You are right about 35 degrees giving a lot of overhang, the holder I made was made at 35 perpendicular to the bar not 35 degrees from the horizontal like it should have been, and it still hung out a fair bit. I think I may make a new one with less angle and not worry about it not working for threading, I believe even the real holder wont thread without an extra grind. I have some solid ¼” round carbide from the shafts of some router bits that broke, I am going to grind one up and see how it works in the holder
Darrell

I like it. I might make one up, grind proper clearance on the tool by hand, and then see how long it lasts just grinding the top face for sharpening. If it's good I might make something better eventually.

I just calculated that angle using trig, I had to draw quite a few triangles.

I'm able to load the homeshopmachinist site at work, finally saw the thread you mentioned.

Steve

Ok I've given the company 2 weeks or so to get back to me. They can't be bothered so I can't be bothered buying it from them