I have a bridgeport with a J2 head I am trying to figure out how to do an internal grove inside a bore. (x2) The tools I have work great for grooving in a lathe but don't work so well for grooving an internal bore. The piece is about 6feet long, it simply will not fit in the lathe.


Does anyone have any tips or ideas on doing this? Any are welcome.

CNC? I assume this is for a bearing retainer?
I've tried a screw slitting saw but it loaded up, I think because the teeth are buried so long so there's no place for chips to go. A single point tool in a home-made holder did work for me.

Yes, it is a bearing retainer. I tried a Valenite grooving tool......tried twice and both times broke the tip. With the tooling we have there is no way to gradually feed the cutting edge surface into the part. I ended up cutting the snap ring groove with a die grinder and a cutting wheel. Took a while but thats the way we have done it in the past. I didn't see any point in breaking $20 tips.

CNC? I assume this is for a bearing retainer?
I've tried a screw slitting saw but it loaded up, I think because the teeth are buried so long so there's no place for chips to go. A single point tool in a home-made holder did work for me.