From: none@none.com99   
      
   No, I didn't put the lathe in reverse, except when I meant to anyway.   
      
   I bought a new parting tool, and some new parting inserts for it that   
   were supposedly optimized for high chromium and stainless steels.  I   
   broke a lot of inserts.   
      
   I went back to an HSS parting blade, but I used one 3/16 wide (yeah   
   really) and ground a chip breaker in it.  Then I polished by hand with a   
   diamond hone.  Turned the lathe speed way down, and cut several pieces   
   of 1.5in diameter 416 without much issue.  It does need a drop (just a   
   drop) 8-10 times during the cut, but it did the trick without a lot of   
   excitement.   
      
   The chip breaker didn't always break the chips, but it did curly them up   
   nicely when it didn't.  I didn't have any wild death metal flying around   
   in my face.   
      
   I'd really like to be able to due this process faster, but atleast some   
   of my customers are opting for the cheaper aluminum inserts.   
      
   Its not a heavy lathe, but its not a toy either.  Its got a 14 inch   
   sling, 3HP motor, and weighs right at 2000lbs.  The only thing I thought   
   of is swapping it out to a 3phase motor so I can change the RPM on the   
   fly as the diameter decreases. Yeah, I know a real lathe that size would   
   probably weigh twice that.   
      
      
   --   
   Bob La Londe   
   CNC Molds N Stuff   
      
      
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