Mini lathe parting/grooving blade or tool with blade help

[Jaime128]

Hi guys. Well, it's been a while since I was on here and now I'm back looking for more stuff. I have the A2Z quick tool post and I was looking for a blade for the holder this kit comes with. Now here's the tricky part, EVERYONE seems to have the HSS blades or even the brazed type. Unfotunately these blades just aren't hard enough to turn a bolt from a car. These are super hard. I was looking at the indexable type as well for a cobalt and/or tin coated insert, but I just can't find something small enough for the mini lathe. Can someone point me to some sources or someplace I can find something like this.

I have talked to Grizzly, and and two others, but nothing there either. Grizzly has a new blade with an insert that may work, but they don't have the individual tin coated inserts from what I can see. You can turn aluminum and the softer materials with the HSS cutters I have but I would like to turn something harder which is possible if you go slow.

These are small bolts so they aren't a problem putting them on the mini lathe. If I can't find a blade that fits the A2Z blade holder I can always get the 3/8 or 1/2 indexable type since those can fit on one of the other holders. I also noticed that the bottom side of the A2Z holder barely has an edge, it's 1/32 from what i could measure. I don't know if it's just my blade block or what, but I think I may have to fix this since most blades seem to be thicker than this. Either way any input on this is greatly appreciated since I can't seem to find anything at the moment. My HSS parting tool just turned a bit black when I tried using it on one of those hard bolts.

[sansbury]

I think what you're looking for is a "N" size blade, which is .040 wide. Enco has them in cobalt:

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=308-0608

You can get insert tooling if the cobalt doesn't do the job, but if you're using a 7x lathe at that point you might consider doing your parting with a cutoff or bandsaw instead. You need a lot of rigidity to cut hardened steel and sometimes the 7x just doesn't have it.

[Jaime128]

That's the first cobalt blade I have seen. I only saw their HSS and well, I just didn't even know they had any. If you know of any others with inserts please let me know. I'm interested in the different types.

As for the mini lathe not being great for really hard stuff, you're right. I have managed to stall the motor once or twice and I haven't even made much of anything to be honest.

[hndswthtshdws]

Is the tool on (or a little above) center, parallel to the chuck, and sharp? You shouldnt have much trouble parting a random bolt. These are small lathes so you have to take it slow.

You could flip the parting tool upside down and reverse rotation if you are having problems with the tool digging in.

[Jaime128]

Well, the tools were new and this was just a bolt sitting around that we tried to turn down the threads on just to play around with the machine. I think it was more the force and and friction not cutting action that took out the thread and stall the motor. I was forcing it a bit much I have to admit. So it wasn't a parting tool I was using at first, it was just a straight cutting tool to clean it up. So yes it was a combination of things that got me looking for some better and stronger cutters. I don't need them for anything yet, but I want to have something in case I need to cut something a bit tougher. So far I guess it's just testing out the lathe for me and just trial and error to see what works and what doesn't.

I have to agree that for other small softer material items, the mini lathe does work beautifully and you don't need much more. As far as cost go, now I think they're overpriced. Specially now that I know we have to spend so much on tooling, for a new person trying to start even with the smallest of the machines, it's just too big of an expense.