Guns & Outdoors Forum

I'd read about tangential tool holders before and more specifically the Diamond Tool Holder which is made in Australia but never wanted to cough up $130 to try one. Plus I mostly use carbide insert tooling except for some bastard form tools that I have to grind.

But, I did some research into the tool geometry and made my own. It holds a piece of 1/4" HSS forward and to the side at a 12 degree angle and then a 30 degree flat is ground into the HSS blank forming the "diamond" with clearance angles.

I made mine out of titanium, mostly because I'm a glutton for punishment but it's also what I had on hand. The blank is a snug fit in the holder and is held in by a grub screw. I'm actually pretty amazed with this thing. It gives a superb finish and even with the gummiest 1018 mild steel that I can find. It also puts off really good chips too, instead of any long stringies that feeds and speeds would solve. With the clearance angles, I can use it for turning or facing operations and cut up to a shoulder as well. It was worth the hour or so to make.

Ive seen those and been curious. But, carbide is too easy.

I agree, but carbide isn't getting a finish like this on a number of different materials. This thing just peels away layers nicely.

The beauty of that setup is that its stupid easy to sharpen, and all the angles are more or less already there. I may make one some day. Add to the list of the 390000 other things I need to make.

I understand that. Theres a million things I'd like to do and only one of me. I did put it through its paces today. Wanted to see if it would get pushed down in the tool holder so I took a .100 doc on that cold rolled and it didn't even hiccup.

Wonder if it’s a similar, but more rigid type deal than a parting blade? Obviously stiffer.
But if you are reeeeeeaaaaallllll careful you can take a whisper cut of the diameter with a parting tool and get really nice results.

Yep, the parting blade trick is how I've been dealing with gummy material if I've not hit my final dimension using inserts and need a spring cut. It rarely happens but it was how I solved that problem. Nice thing about this tool holder is that it doesn't cut on the return pass either so I don't have to back off the cross slide before transversing back towards the end of my part.

Just the ticket for turning air gun components!
I love custom tools! Just finished a self centering hinge jig / drill guide to fix french doors.

I likey that tool!