Building The Steven's Favorite

[TomG]

Ed,

Don't feel bad, parting is scary for everyone. I always feed by hand on a manual lathe unless I'm using flood coolant. It let's you feel what the tool is doing and you can back off a bit if things start binding up. Here are a few parting pointers:

• Alignment is critical. Don't just eyeball the tool, square it up against the chuck or indicate it so it is dead perpendicular to the work.
  
• Set the RPM to about half what you would normally use for turning.
  
• Keep tool overhang to a minimum.
  
• If the center of the part is to be hollow, do that operation first before parting. It's much easier to cut off a part if you don't need to go all the way to center.
  
• Use a sulphur based cutting oil or flood coolant. It's important to keep your tool well lubed at all times (the parting tool that is).
  
• Set the tool height dead on center. Too high and it will bind up near the center, too low and it will pull in near the center.
  
• Raise your hands in the air and spin around three times before starting the cut (works for me).
  

Good luck!

Tom