Bill Schwab wrote:
Hello all,

I have been looking at $80-100 import boring head/bar sets. For that
money, I would not expect to start rebuilding V12 engines, but it would
hopefully teach me a little and tolerate abuse as an adjustable hole
saw. Is that a reasonable expection?

Boring heads appear to be sold by diameter, with no mention of capacity.
Some searching and reading leads me to suspect that one can mount the
bar parallel or perpendicular to the axis of rotation, with the latter
allowing larger holes to be bored. Is that accurate?
Yes, generally you can go almost as small as the boring bar or as large
as the rigidity of the perpendicular bar will allow without excess chatter.

Any cautions or advice?
Never use the lever feed. Go slow, take several small cuts, and use the
geared downfeed or raise the table. If after your final cut you don't
want a score line in the bore be sure to reduce the diameter before
pulling the boring head out of the hole.

Bill