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Hi Keith,
I use a lapidary wheel (a jeweler's wheel) made of a very fine grade of carborundum (silicon carbide) to grind my carbide bits but it takes a lot of work to grind them to shape. It also takes a lot of quenching, unless I leave them mounted on the tool holder, 'cause they get too hot to hold very quickly. Most of my turning is done with HSS 10% cobalt bits and I just use coarse and medium grade silicon carbide wheels to grind those ('cause that's all I have), but I've been told that you could grind them with regular aluminum oxide wheels too. The real advantage to 10% cobalt is that it makes the HSS able to withstand higher temperatures, so you can take deeper cuts without overheating and destroying your tool bits. I think I paid $3 each, also from Enco, but I think they were on sale at the time. Not sure what the regular price is. Last time I bought a bunch of them so they would last me a while and so far, they've lasted a lot longer than regular HSS. I think I'de bought a dozen.
I use a quick change tool post from CDCO and 3/8" tools are the largest I can use on my lathe. I can't use 1/2 inch because I can't center them properly.
On thinking about leaf springs some more, I don't think I would ever try it. Although they are made of high carbon steel, it's not the same as HSS and I don't think they would work very well for turning steel. I think they would be great for woodworking though - or soft metals, if someone wanted to take the time to cut off and grind the tools. I regularly cut up to 5/8" plate steel with an abrasive cutoff wheel mounted on a radial saw or a chop saw and even use the chop saw to cutoff up to 4" diameter bar stock, but it's LOUD and makes a LOT of sparks! LOL. I'm sure that would work well on a leaf spring.
Today is payday for me (pension check from Dept of Veteran's Affairs) and I thought I would have a "wild hog" day, going hog wild on a shopping spree at the local tools stores, but the wife just called from work to tell me her car overheated and now she has a $3000 car repair bill to contend with (damn!). I hope you have better luck than I do!
I recommend getting a silicon carbide wheel to grind the tool bits. If you can't grind them with what you're using now, that should do the trick.
... Gus
----- Original Message -----From: keith gutshallSent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 10:29 AMSubject: Re: [multimachine] Lathe tools from leaf spring steel
A leaf sping seem to me like you would have a grinding to do to geta turning tool out of it.A leaf spring is abot 5/16- 3/8 in thick and about 2in + wide.You can get the tool blanks from the big tool suppiers for cheap.I got some 3/8 HHS blanks from Enco for about $1.50 each on saleabout a month ago.I lke to have some blanks around for special tools.Most of the time I use 1/2 shank insert tools.Gus do you have a special wheel to grind the 10% cobalt tools?I got some 5%cobalt tools and can not seem to grind them.Maybe some insight about grinding them would be helpful.Keith
Deep Run Portage
Back Shop
" The Lizard Works"
--- On Mon, 6/29/09, Gus Rodriguez <gusrod1948@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
From: Gus Rodriguez <gusrod1948@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [multimachine] Lathe tools from leaf spring steel
To: multimachine@yahoogroups. com
Date: Monday, June 29, 2009, 8:45 PM
As a rule, most tools for small lathes are in the 3/8" or 1/2" range, although the small lathes use even smaller tools. A typical profile would be for a tool of 3/8" x 3/8" x 3" or 1/2" x 1/2" x 4". If I was going to use a leaf spring, I wouldn't straighten it, just try to grind it to shape, unless you have a lot of experience with heat treating and hardening metal because you would probably have to heat it to straighten and then reheat to temper it again.I grind my own tools from high speed steel alloyed with 10% cobalt and I cool (quench) in water every few seconds. Let your fingers tell you when it's hot enough to need cooling. I pay $3-$5 each for blanks and although imported from china, they work well enough for me. You can get them from a variety of sources, like Enco.com, Shars.com or CDCO.com. I use a Grizzly 10x22 lathe to take cuts up to .050" deep at a feed rate of .006" and 300 rpm on 3" diameter stock, with no problem. I've never thought about using a leaf spring for cutting metal but it would be interesting to know how it works out for you. Please let us know, if you do this. Thanks.... Gus----- Original Message -----From: jprimex2000Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 5:30 PMSubject: [multimachine] Lathe tools from leaf spring steelI found an old leaf spring I can cut up to make tools for use with my lathe according to the book in the files section, but it does not go into detail on this. Has anybody ever done this? I've ground lock picks before on my bench grinder and I imagine it should be similar, grinding a little bit then quenching the piece so it doesn't get hot and lose the temper? Should I quench it in water, and if so how often? The spring is pretty curved, can I straighten out pieces or just grind it down to shape?
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