"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...

I still think that it would be easier to make one long one and
cut it to make multiple ones -- rather than trying to fix a bunch of
purchased ones -- especially if the purchased ones are partially hardened
as they should be.

Possibly.
At an additional cost.

Several sources including Taig dealers allude to a "rear toolpost" -
apparetly you can clamp the parting tool upside down and mount it in the
rear post the other side of the spindle. I could not work out what the
benefit of such arrangement would be.

The chips fall down from the slot instead of building up on top
of the parting tool.

The stresses on the carriage are different, and if the carriage
moves, it clears the slot a little, instead of possibly digging in and
breaking the parting tool.

I would use them on my Clausing, if the cross-slide were
equipped with a rear T-slot.

OK. Worth considering then.

The thought was simply to take an existing chunk of aluminium and mill
a
10
degree inclined slot with a deeper portion near the top, drill and tap
for
set screws and a central holding screw, make a posh handle like I made
for
the Taig toolpost and voila!

The screws really should operate a clamp bar, as it is easy for
setscrews to slip on the narrow top of the parting tool.

Ah. What about an arrangement like this one:
http://home.iprimus.com.au/stevor/lathetools.htm
?

Hmm ... first off -- I don't like that topmost photo, which is
encouraging you to grind on the sides of a standard grinding wheel.
There are wheels made for such use -- but the standard ones can break as
a result of the lateral loading, spewing chunks of stone at high speed
towards everyone nearby.

As for the side clamping -- you would have to mill a groove in
the holder, and a matching groove in the clamp plate, to clear the wider
'T' top of the parting tool. You can make the groove a little wider
than needed to allow for slight mis-positioning of the grooves, as long
as you have a lot of meat clamping from both sides.

As for using the hacksaw blade -- fine for shallow grooves for
C-clips and the like, but bad news for deep parting, as the blade will
almost certainly bend and give you either a concave or convex end which
will need to be trued with a facing tool.

So fiddling with a 1/4" piece does not seem so bad after reading this. There
is of course always the commercial option :-)

--
Michael Koblic
Campbell River, BC