Thread: Harder toolrest

Hi phil,
I went to a wrecking yard and got a suspension strut
Carefully took it apart , and used the nice chrome rod
inside , very hard, easy slide ,, I have had it for awhile now
with no nics or chunks out of it just another option for you,!

I made a toolrest out of a piece cut off an old prop shaft out of an outboard motor. It is hard and chromed, worked well, though I would like to find some bigger diameter stuff to make another one..

Thanks Smiife, good idea, though I'm not sure I'm up to welding Chromed steel. What Diameter was the rod ?

Ironwood, thanks, I'm thinking smallish rod welded on top of an existing flatbar toolrest Phil

I think its probable that toolrests are made of softer steel than tools because its easier to file your rest flat than file nicks out of your tools.
Ted

Originally Posted by turnerted

I think its probable that toolrests are made of softer steel than tools because its easier to file your rest flat than file nicks out of your tools.
Ted

I agree with you there Ted....
Jim

I find its more lapses in tool technique that cause the nicks in the tool rest, so I am always attentive when I present the skew etc to the wood. Detail / spindle gouges are often the cause of the nicks. Any one use parafin wax or silver glide on their tool rests?

I think it equally probable the they are make from soft cast iron or mild steel because it's easy and cheap. Yes nicks and dings are due to lapses but they happen, ( my wife is learning to roll beads with a skew ) I've seen plenty of dings on club lathes. Hard to imagine a 10mm dia tool steel rod damaging the side of a HSS skew but I suppose it could happen. That probably covers the negatives. Thanks Phil

I used PC7 epoxy to attach a 5/16 (I think) HSS rod to the top of my oneway toolrests. It surely made things easier now that I very, very seldom have to dress the rest, and then it's just a little with a diamond hone. PC7 is sort of like JB Weld, only stronger, I think. I believe I posted pics of the rests on this forum a few years ago.
Allen

Originally Posted by pommyphil

Thanks Smiife, good idea, though I'm not sure I'm up to welding Chromed steel. What Diameter was the rod ?

Ironwood, thanks, I'm thinking smallish rod welded on top of an existing flatbar toolrest Phil

Hi phil,
I didn, t weld it (no welding gear or experience)
I just got a mate to fix it with a ring on a toolpost
Hope the pics help!

Thanks Allen, did a bit of a search but could not find your pics, maybe I'm too old to have that much faith in epoxy. Toolrest-Cropped-2.jpgthis is the Vicmarc.

Hi Smiife I think the ring could be worse than the dings ?

Originally Posted by pommyphil

Thanks Allen, did a bit of a search but could not find your pics, maybe I'm too old to have that much faith in epoxy. Toolrest-Cropped-2.jpgthis is the Vicmarc.

I had to look for a while, but I found them in my photos. Here's one of them:
ToolRestDrillRod4(Small).jpg
IIRC, I used my Dremel to grind a small hollow along the edge of the factory toolrest, then used the PC7 to stick the drill rod. It's worked fine for several years. And it is shaped sort of like the profile shot of your Vicmarc toolrest in your post.
Al

Originally Posted by Allen Neighbors

I had to look for a while, but I found them in my photos. Here's one of them:
ToolRestDrillRod4(Small).jpg
IIRC, I used my Dremel to grind a small hollow along the edge of the factory toolrest, then used the PC7 to stick the drill rod. It's worked fine for several years. And it is shaped sort of like the profile shot of your Vicmarc toolrest in your post.
Al

Thats not a bad idea, although I would be more inclined to braze it on, or perhaps silver solder. I might look at doing this instead of what I had in mind, thanks for that.

Originally Posted by Ironwood

Thats not a bad idea, although I would be more inclined to braze it on, or perhaps silver solder. I might look at doing this instead of what I had in mind, thanks for that.

I believe that in addition to grinding a small hollow along the tool rest, that I also roughed the bottom side of the drill rod on my belt sander with about an 80 grit bell. That will make the epoxy adhere better to the drill rod.
Al

I have been using the hardened drill rod rests for a number of years now. It is a lot harder than my tools, but I haven't put any dings in my tools from it. The way the tools just slide across the metal is wonderful. I believe you have to heat treat the rod yourself, which I don't know how to do, though some of it does come hardened. The first straight ones were epoxied on. The newer ones are now welded. With the curved ones, you have to bend it first, then heat treat it, and then weld it on. I never did like just round steel for a tool rest as they just 'feel' wrong. Most of them are 1/4 inch or I guess about half a centimeter. They do spoil you, and I don't like using cast metal at all. You can try to take a file to them, but the file just slides off.

robo hippy