Old thread or not, Michiganbuck's and others comments about using HSS instead of carbide are correct. A lot just don't fully understand even why those bigger, heavier and much more rigid lathes everyone say's it really takes make the carbide work so much better. Abom 79's recent post on Youtube and his build of a missing 3 jaw chuck wrench shows it more than well if your paying attention. A higher HP, rigid, heavy lathe that can take those .010" feeds and fairly large depths of cut per revolution (and more) helps to heat the material to plasticize it as it's coming off as a chip. Compare his surface finishes right off the tool and what most carbide tips produce on the much smaller lathes. There's your visual proof. Note I didn't say carbide can't work, and yes it will also work better with those honed and meant mostly for aluminum inserts. It will even cut metal on almost any lathes including a tiny watch makers, but in general those surface finishes certainly won't be optimal. If we then have to spend a whole lot of time to sand and polish trying to get that smooth shiny surface finish that might well be far less accurate, then you haven't gained anything over just using well sharpened and honed HSS that lathe was designed to use. Carbide might be the only real choice with chilled castings (maybe) or a whole lot harder material than the average mild steel just as Michiganbuck mentioned as well. But expecting carbide to do everything that shows up and never needing to learn how to sharpen HSS just ain't going to happen.
For the most part Hitandmiss's post about grinding steel or HSS back in is generally correct and the diamond will burn. But it needs to be mentioned for any that don't already know it. That's simply due to the heat generated from the high rpm to start that burning. So it's not quite the blanket and correct statement as it seems. Diamond wheels can still be used under power though. The much slower Glendo Accu-Finish or any other slower machines that run a few hundred rpm or a bit less are fully capable of grinding steels and HSS with no problems using those same diamond wheels. But they were also designed more as a final finish honing method. To be efficient, you'd still rough shape the tool on a more conventional bench grinder first. And using the correct wheel type for the cutting tool material your grinding. I even hand hone my HSS on a Diamond plate most times without an issue. It stays flat and remains sharp to where any stone, oil or water are just about more trouble than there worth. A few things have changed since that HTRAL book was written. And if your buying braised carbide, then so far I haven't used anything better than what Micro 100 produces. The dirt cheap off shore braised carbide is garbage simply because the profit margin isn't there to even halfway duplicate what the better manufactures do every day. With any tool making using more modern than maybe 's technology, actual labor cost's have almost zero effect to the out the door costs for any cutting tool. Cheap cutting tools are only cheap because a whole lot of steps, material quality and even methods get ignored or left out on purpose. And yes I tried and failed to use those cheap sets of braised carbide for far longer than I should have before I finally got a bit less stupid.
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Use of proper diamond tools accessories such as wheel stiffeners, flanges, water swivel adapters, etc can make a significant impact on the overall results. Unfortunately, this is something that is frequently overlooked by diamond tools users regardless of their background.
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When cutting, use the right size flanges or wheel stiffener sets with all thin diamond wafering blades to firmly hold it in place. This will help prevent the blade from "walking". Use Drill Head Assemblies (water swivel adapters) with core drills to provide coolant (water) through the center of the drill and on to drilling zone.
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