Carbide VS Steel guide bush

[EvansMachine]

Hi,
When I got my swiss lathe it came with a load of guide bushes(all of which are carbide). Now I have a job that I have to buy a bush for. My question is should I fork it up and pay S&M $400.00 for a carbide lined one or a steel one from hardinge that comes in at $115.00. It is a 1/2 bush so I will probably use it in the future, but I am not sure which way to go. let me know what you think?

[Paulo E.]

The right answer I would say is: Whatever you can afford with out braking your budget. While the carbide bushes are great the question becomes, how often will you be using that particular bush. The price difference is almost 4 to 1, so ask yourself this. Will you have the machine long enough to use more than 4 steel bushes ???? and if your answer is yes, well then the choice is an easy one.

[EvansMachine]

I was looking for like how they wear? Will they gall up steel material? How long do they actually last? I only have 500 parts to do so I think it will probably last but I don't want to buy a throw away bush. Thanks for any input

[Gunner]

We use steel on our Swiss for fairly long production runs. We don't normally have an issue. I'd buy the steel unless your quoting a job and can get someone else to buy them for you.

[ProProcess]

Originally Posted by EvansMachine My question is should I fork it up and pay S&M $400.00 for a carbide lined one...

That price sound way too high.
From S&M should be less than $150.
'less this is something special.

[EvansMachine]

it is a t200 guide bush and 0161 grippers on the main and sub. The nice lady from S&M quoted me at $384. Who else besides S&M and hardinge?

[ProProcess]

so it's $384 total for all three items, not $400 for just the bushing?
there is a company called KEB but i've never tried them...

[EdgeCrusher]

carbide are nice but like you said they do gall up bad if you have to run the G.B. tight to hold a tolerance but I've found if you use a pencil air grinder with a stone bit it will remove the galled material and not scratch or remove any carbide. Usually I make cleaning the G.B. with a stone part of the set up.

[PixMan]

KEB make pretty good stuff, but I haven't bought in wuite some time and can't say how good delivery is. Pricing is competitive with Hardinge, perhaps better than S&M. http://www.kebkollets.com/

I've have some "experiences" with quality of the "super precision" guide bushings from S&M, but in fairness, they have always made good if there was a complaint. Hardinge has had exceptional delivery *and* quality with their fair pricing.

As for steel vs. carbide, I'd always choose carbide because it's easier to save a galled one should that happen. If you have older machines without a PLC or CNC-controlled bar feeder, this can be a common failure when the pusher hangs up. No end-of-bar signal trips = galled and/or smashed-up GB.