A friend recommended that I look at the Iscar Self Grip Cutoff tool and
so I went to the www.iscar.com site; they have lots of different types
and styles and so I was wondering if anyone has some advice regarding
some of the better Iscar tools vs. the Aloris ones.

One thing that looks VERY interesting from Iscar are some tools that
have coolant holes built in: e.g. [SGFH-K] Self-Grip blades with
internal coolant holes for parting and grooving; and the [GEHIMR/L-SC
or GEHIR/L-SC] internal machining boring carbide bar with a coolant
hole.

Their site is not very good at explaining what's needed to use the
coolant feature on these tools; e.g. special holder and/or pump.

Mark Main wrote:

A friend recommended that I look at the Iscar Self Grip Cutoff tool and
so I went to the www.iscar.com site; they have lots of different types
and styles and so I was wondering if anyone has some advice regarding
some of the better Iscar tools vs. the Aloris ones.

One thing that looks VERY interesting from Iscar are some tools that
have coolant holes built in: e.g. [SGFH-K] Self-Grip blades with
internal coolant holes for parting and grooving; and the [GEHIMR/L-SC
or GEHIR/L-SC] internal machining boring carbide bar with a coolant
hole.

Their site is not very good at explaining what's needed to use the
coolant feature on these tools; e.g. special holder and/or pump.

Coolant through the tool is a prominent feature of CNC machines. Since
you do not know about that, chances are pretty good that they amount to
a feature you do not need to spend money on.

My two bits is to contact a local (if there is one) tool seller and ask.
They are usually pretty conversant with the product lines they carry,
and can recomend a particular size or series of tool for the uses you
are likely to put it to.

FWIW I use either Iscar or Sandvik cutoff fools at work with no
preference between them, on lathes 12 to 18 inch swing. We only have the
one size, and only the one width insert (.093) and it meets our needs.
IIRC both brands of holders are using the same inserts.

Cheers
Trevor Jones

Coolant through the tool is a prominent feature of CNC machines. Since you do not know about that, chances are pretty good that they amount to a feature you do not need to spend money on.

Thanks, my cutoff work will be manual for quite awhile I think; I just
want to ask while I try and figure out what tools to buy.

I see that Iscar makes other tools; does anyone know how they stack up
against Aloris brand? I ask because I generally read the praises of
Aloris but so far I've only seen people write about Iscar Cutoff blades
and tools, but not their other tools.

I appreciate the help as it's obvious with my simplistic (and sometimes
dumb) questions that I'm learning here.

Mark Main wrote:

Coolant through the tool is a prominent feature of CNC machines. Since you do not know about that, chances are pretty good that they amount to a feature you do not need to spend money on.

Thanks, my cutoff work will be manual for quite awhile I think; I just
want to ask while I try and figure out what tools to buy.

I see that Iscar makes other tools; does anyone know how they stack up
against Aloris brand? I ask because I generally read the praises of
Aloris but so far I've only seen people write about Iscar Cutoff blades
and tools, but not their other tools.

I appreciate the help as it's obvious with my simplistic (and sometimes
dumb) questions that I'm learning here.

I was/am unaware of the Aloris cutoff tools. I know that they make
toolosts. Can't say, therefore, whether they are going to be useful to
you or not.
I would steer clear of any tool that uses inserts that can only be got
from one source, as it's likely to become an orphan sooner than later.

Hmmmm...

A quick look at Google finds that Aloris makes two different styles of
toolpost holder for holding cutoff tools. Is this causing confusion? The
Aloris holders will work with cutoff tools from anybody, almost, but
they are not cutoff tools in their own right. They both hold standard
size tooling that is available from just about anywhere.

Got a link to what you are looking at? This is a page of Aloris tooling
http://machinetoolsforsale.com/Aloris.htm with the cutoff holders a bit
past halfway down the page.

Cheers
Trevor Jones

Mark Main wrote:
A friend recommended that I look at the Iscar Self Grip Cutoff tool and
so I went to the www.iscar.com site; they have lots of different types
and styles and so I was wondering if anyone has some advice regarding
some of the better Iscar tools vs. the Aloris ones.

One thing that looks VERY interesting from Iscar are some tools that
have coolant holes built in: e.g. [SGFH-K] Self-Grip blades with
internal coolant holes for parting and grooving; and the [GEHIMR/L-SC
or GEHIR/L-SC] internal machining boring carbide bar with a coolant
hole.

Their site is not very good at explaining what's needed to use the
coolant feature on these tools; e.g. special holder and/or pump.

Iscar were at one time the best part off tools and tips going.Not
anymore.There are cheaper tips out there that do a better job.We run
multispindles as well as cnc and used to run SGFH blades with GFN3
tips.Each machine used 5 tips a shift parting off 40 mm dia EN1A at
1200 rpm at about 0.006" rev.We change the tip after a 1000 pieces.When
the price went to $10.62 a tip we tested other makes and ended up with
Ceratizit at $7.20 a tip.Same speeds and feeds but a lot less fumes
from the neat oil coolant.Nowadays we don`t use Iscar for
anything,mainly Sandvik,Tizit,Stellram and a bit of Mitsubishi.
Most of our parting off is not bigger than 3" dia. and we don`t use
through coolant.
regards,Mark.

"Mark Main" wrote in message
oups.com...
Coolant through the tool is a prominent feature of CNC machines. Since
you do not know about that, chances are pretty good that they amount to a
feature you do not need to spend money on.

Thanks, my cutoff work will be manual for quite awhile I think; I just
want to ask while I try and figure out what tools to buy.


Chances are you're over-thinking this issue. While you _can_ talk to an
insert retailer, you should be aware that these guys are used to selling
dozens of inserts to companies that get paid to cut metal. Someone who will
go through a box of inserts every couple of years isn't exactly worth their
time, typically. This is not to say that you won't find someone willing to
help, just don't be surprised if you don't get top notch service. Remember
to have the specifications of your machine, the type of material you've
going to be cutting, and the size available when you call. If you don't
sound like you know what you're talking about, you'll get bad service.

I would recommend, once you find the insert geometry that meets your needs,
looking at an industrial tool distributor like MSC or McMaster-Carr and buy
the inserts out of the catalogue, along with the holder. You can find some
very good value-brand holders which should do an excellent job if you're
just running them manually, and they're not very expensive. You'll have
trouble justifying the (significant) extra expensive of buying the latest
and greatest indexable tools when you're using a manual machine and not
being paid for your work.

BTW, if you are being paid for your work and you do need very productive
(and expensive) tooling, head over to alt.machines.cnc. You should get lots
of good suggestions on who and what to go with.

Regards,

Robin