My dad has a fairly old magic drill attachment gizmo which has a
phillips bit output shaft. I'd like to part off the end of the bit
and put a collar on so I can attach a small chuck instead. I imagine
a hacksaw would work, but I need practice on the lathe.

I'm a pretty comprehensive newbie with a lathe, but I've done a fair
bit of plain steel and aluminum, but this parting job is turning out
to be difficult. The problem is I can't seem to cook up an edge that
will cut, seemingly regardless of rake and the angle at which I apply
the tool. I shifted to the back-gear due to really bad chatter which
took the edge off the tool early on.

I suppose the metal I'm trying to part is something extra-hard. At
this point, I'm about half-way through and all I'm doing now is
polishing the surface I'm trying to cut. Its now quite smooth and
shiny...

My guess is I need to do a better job of grinding the parting tool.
At present, I'm trying to follow basic tool grinding recommendations
in the SB "How to run a lathe" book. If someone could give some hints
about how to set up a parting tool for "hard" steel, I'd really
appreciate it.

If its relevant, I'm using an Atlas 6" with a fairly ancient half used
parting tool.

Thanks,

Greg