I recently bought a boring head on eBay which happened to include an
Everede boring bar. This bar uses replaceable 3/32" triangular
inserts which seem to be tool steel. I touched up the included
insert and found that it produces a much better finish than the
brazed carbide bars I've been using.
Are these little triangular inserts available and if so, where?
Carbide tip tools (regular tools and boring bars)don't produce a good
finish for me. They also seem to develop tiny chips on the cutting
point fairly quickly (which may be why the finish is poor) and I've
also had larger chips a couple of times. I've read that carbide
works best when taking heavy cuts and that light cuts (which is my
normal use) don't work as well because the thin chip applies force
close to the edge. I've also had poor results when re-sharpening
carbide -- the edge seems more fragile afterwards and rapidly
develops chips while turning mild steel; the finish is so poor that I
try not to use carbide on aluminum.
Based on the above, I'm shifting to cobalt steel bits but would be
interested to find out if there is some error I'm making in the way I
use carbide tools or if others run into the same problem using them
on minilathes?
John
