On Wed, 7 Feb 2018 10:13:10 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:

So, who has used one? Seems to me that if the insert and tool holder can
take the cutting force it should be able to give a pretty good finish
even with a pretty aggressive feed.

Adding to that, round inserts are usually made either for milling or
for rough-turning with rigid machines and a lot of horsepower. But you
get a "wiping" effect because of the geometry, and some applications
allow them to be used as really aggressive (and very strong) roughers,
while producing an adequate finish for many applications at the same
time, in a single pass.

Watch for chatter. As Jim mentioned, that's a limiting factor.
Chip-breaking is another.

BTW, for single-pass turning with rigid lathes, wiper inserts are the
coolest thing going. Or they were, a few years ago, when I last wrote
about them. I watched them at work at Sandvik (in NJ), and they were
fantastic.

--
Ed Huntress