Indexable Replaceable Lathe Tool Holder 1/2" 12mm Shank 7pcs Metal Lathe Tool Holder Set for Groove Threading Bowling with 14 Carbide Inserts

ممتاز

Very good set for a Hobbiest with Metal working experience

Satisfactory. Good for the cost.

I have an old, clapped-out lathe that gets used at random times, mostly when a project goes off the rails and I need to make, modify or repair something in a HURRY. Because of this, I never know what I'll be making or what material I'll be using. Last time I fired up the lathe, I was modifying a brass hose barb to replace a broken fitting on a plastic car radiator. This was on a Sunday afternoon and I needed that hose barb 5 minutes ago. I bought this kit because I'm not the best at grinding HSS tools for the lathe. I wanted something I could throw on the lathe and get to work, rather than take 3 or 4 attempts to get tool geometry right, hone the edge, etc. This set is inexpensive, uses commonly available inserts, and has several different tool formats. I figured I could buy an entry-level set of tools and then upgrade if/when I needed to. So far, I haven't needed to. I've used these tools on a couple of different projects and so far they've been fine. I've turned brass and mild steel, but also used them to reduce the outer diameter of a tool steel spark plug socket for use in a motorcycle engine. The tool left a pretty good surface finish even though my lathe is worn out and tends to fight me a bit, and it cut the relatively hard steel without a single complaint. If you need an entry level set of carbide lathe tools for next to nothing, you could do a lot worse than this set. The inserts have survived some interrupted cuts and other mild abuse that I for sure thought would have done some damage. So far, I haven't had to switch out a single insert. I'm impressed. This is a perfect kit for a home machinist on a shoestring budget (like me), or for someone who doesn't want to spend top dollar while dipping their toes into the machining world. I'll still keep HSS tools around for specific uses (form tools, cutting plastic or softer metals, etc.) but these will probably do the lion's share of the work in the future.

The part that's good is the holders are accurately machined for a good fit and the inserts are very sharp. I can get a good surface finish even with .001" finishing cuts. But there are some flaws with this set that really diminish its usefulness. There are no left hand bits, so no way to turn the rim of a disc, or face toward the centerline. The external threading tool is biased so you can thread to a shoulder, but it is so much easier and safer to thread in reverse away from the chuck with the tool upside down, and for that you need a bit biased the other way. The boring bar has only .75" of relief so you can not bore any deeper without either grinding relief along the bar or angling it in the toolpost to provide the relief, which substantially increases the minimum bore size. The internal threading tool had the same issue, but of course you can't angle it because the insert is square to the axis of the bar. This insert is very small: the maximum thread pitch is about 14 TPI (1.75mm) and the minimum diameter the bar will fit inside is about 5/8" (16mm) so there is absolutely no standard nut you can thread with this tool. The external threading tool is a bit bigger and could go to 8 TPI (3mm), which is still not great. All in all, I'm disappointed in the set and expect I'll only use a couple of the tools to any extent, so what seemed like a low price is certainly not, at least for my use cases.