Inserts in the home shop

Tim Goldstein wrote

>I broke a number of inserts (is it ok to talk about using inserts in
>a home shop or is that not politically correct?) until I
>learned that you need to cut the whole hardened thread in one pass.

I read an artical on setting up your shop in Live Steam magazine by
the fella that built the Shay, Heisler, and other engines. He made a
good case for the home shop machinist to just use HSS tools. They are
inexpensive and can be sharpened on a common grinder.

I was talking to a knowledgeable friend of mine and he agreed up to a
point. Sharpening a tool correctly is sometime easier said than done.
Maybe that's why so many folks seem to build tool sharpeners as their
first major project.

I don't have a very good grinder so I use carbide inserts in a holder
I built for most things and HSS tools when something special is
required. The inserts are always ground to the correct angle and
fixing a dull cutter is as simple as fliping/rotating the insert. So
from my point of view, inserts are politically correct. 8^)


Dan Eaton (Saint Louis)