[123tool]

I finally have power on the lathe and need tooling for the SL10 starting from scratch, basicly tool holders/inserts for OD, ID, threading OD/ID, cut off, drill/tap... the basics. What major company would you call to start things out? I had the rep. from Iscar out today with very disappointing results so there out of the running.

I'm on the westside of Cleveland and need to get this thing going in 2 weeks along with a mill.

Thanks for any information.

[Combat28Mech]

Sumitomo and Kenametal are pretty reliable. We run Kenametal cutters with sumitomo inserts and some kenametal inserts. Sumitomo makes a quality insert for a very reasonable price. For threading we run a 2 point and 3 point insert by Carmex. They do wonders for your cycle times But your machine has to have a G32 canned cycle for threading to use them. Another draw back is your have to buy certain tool holders and your inserts aren't universal to the extent that a single point insert is. They make those inserts for basically one size and thats the only tpi you can use them for. You also need different anvils for those inserts but if your running just a few standard size threads they are awesome. Otherwise we use iscar single point threading inserts and I'm very pleased at the tool life we get out of them on our sl30 Haas Lathe

[123tool]

Thanks, Monday Kenametal will be out to show what they have. You have a very good point of using common size inserts even between the different tool holders. I'll look at the Sumitomo inserts, most everything will be aluminum and very basic, one insert might take care of 50% the work. Basicly I'm buying tool holders this time around... I really hope this vendor is better than the Iscar rep, he will never be in my house again.

[roundman]

Congrats on a fine lathe. We had to get extra tool holding blocks because there were some jobs where we used a lot of tooling and turned up short. Also I would suggest that if you choose topnotch type holders for od thread and groove you may want to get two holders. One for each type of process.Also that could go for the id stuff. Iscar makes a great part off tool and their stuff seems ok to us. You will need toolholders and collets (we use er32) to hold your small drills and a number of sleeves to hold boring bars along with various larger insert drills or spade drills. You need a good variety and sometimes for us we need more than one size of a sleeve. Of course you can always make your own. Also on Insert drills Iscar makes a superb one that you can also bore with. I am not sure what happened in your experience with them. I would like to know though so send a message and let me know.Collets are important also standard sizes are important because it is so easy to use a collet whenever you can vs. a chuck. If you need to use the chuck which most of us do then have machinable hard jaw sets ready to bore or turn depending on what you find you need to hold. I could type all day but that is what I would do if I got another one. I probably wouldn't do it all at once because everything has a priority.
Best regards to you.

[sti2011]

I have found that tooling companies stand out in different areas. My tooling inventory contains stuff from near everyone.
Iscar for turning, parting and drilling
Kennametal for grooving (top notch)
STS and Vardex for threading
Zeuss for knurling
The list goes on...If you want to be as efficient as possible, no one tool supplier will fit the bill. Also I'm surprised that you had a bad experience with Iscar I have had really good luck with them and their tech dept has been a very good resource. I think as far as turning goes they are definetly my only go to.

[123tool]

There are many choices and because of that many ways to make a mistake, these have to be kept to a minimum. The problem is I can only tell the company what I need to do and know nothing about tooling a SL-10. Haas sells a tooling certificate which saves you 35% so why not get most of the tooling (tool holders) from one company. What I need is a vendor to say buy this tool holder, this insert then order this mounting from Haas for the turret… if someone knows a SL-10 it could be real easy for me which is what I need at this point. Hopefully this guy from Kennametal can get it done. I also bought a TM-1P which is easy to setup.

I manufacture as a hobby for my hobby, this comes after my family plus a real job, it doesn’t leave much time. It’s a busy time of year because the stuff I manufacture is a good gift for a wife to buy for her husband, more need to be made before Christmas plus 4,000 lbs. of aluminum will be delivered in 2 weeks for a new product due in late January.

Haas has been very good to me and the problem tooling this machine has nothing to do with Haas.

Thanks again, I’ll let you know how it went.

[Donkey Hotey]

I'm going through this right now, with an SL-20. This was the basic tool set that I came up with:

• A good combination (rough/finish) right turning tool
• A combination grooving/turning tool. The only brand that I know that truly does this is PH Horn's S224 series of inserts. My logic here is that left turning tools are almost worthless. You have to groove out a ton of material, just to make clearance to get a left turning tool in there, so why bother at all? The groove/turn tool will take care of both.
• Because of the above choice, I picked a PH Horn parting tool, in the same S224 insert family. It's almost the same tool but, the holder is thin all the way through the holder so you can part with it.
• Because of the previous two choices, I also picked the PH Horn S224 threading inserts. This means I'll have exactly the same model bar for left turn, grooving and threading. That keeps me in a single product family of inserts that they make in a variety of widths. If I need spare screws or whatever, everything is shared.
• Straight shank ER-16 and ER-32 tool holders to use for drilling, tapping and boring tools. The diameter will depend on the size of tool holders that Haas includes with the SL-10. On the SL-20, it's a pair of 1" and one 1.25". Two to three sets of collets and three straight shank holders should cover this for.

That leaves a few positions for fine finishing tools if you need them. I'm also facing the Kennametal decision. Despite the discounts, it looks like I can probably do much better if I just take the straight cash value with a local tool supplier that works with my HFO. I don't doubt that the Kennametal stuff is nice but, I'm not seeing any compelling reasons to stick with their brand. I'm all ears if somebody found otherwise.

FWIW: I'm trying to tool a VF-5XT, GR-712 and the SL-20 with $6K. It's going to be a challenge.

[sti2011]

You are probably best off with a smaller local tool supply house that has a machinist or two that have retired from cutting metal and now do technical sales. I have such a resource and they have come up with some pretty ingenious ideas over the years. Send em a print and ask what to use to do what you want....Most of what they will stock tend be the preferred tooling choices for the application. Benefit from what others around you have learned and actually buy. Do not buy "name brand" tool holders there are plenty of "generic" versions of them out there, and they are really all made to the same specs. This will lighten the financial burden some. I still would not stick to any one specific "brand"

[J_Copeland]

Hey call L&M Supply.They will carry everything that you need.They are located in the Cleveland area too.