01-17-2015, 10:37 PM
By the way, regarding Micro 100 boring bars:
Micro 100 boring bars can be easily ground to new cutting edges using a diamond grinding wheel. I do it all the time in my shop with a 320 grit wheel on my surface grinder, usually freehand. When I want "precise", I put the Micro 100 boring bar in my school-made sine bar grinding vise.
Yes you can hone them, but a diamond hone could take a LONG time to get rid of a chipped tip or cutting edge.
I assume you mean 6061 aluminum. Butter for carbide! Run top speed and let 'er rip. I do recommend downloading the Micro 100 catalog, it's full of great information. When I was buying and using them at work, they offered only the dead sharp bars, designated "BB-xxxxxx". A simple code, the first three numbers after the "BB-" is the minimum bore size, the numbers following are the depth it can go. So a BB-320800 can start in a Ø .320 bore and get at least .800" deep.
They now offer TiN coated bars, and ones with a small radius on the tip that help them last a lot longer in steels and stainless steels, getting better finishes than the sharp ones. I'd skip the coating, it's not a big advantage because their sub-micron grade of carbide is so good, and it's gone as soon as you touch it up on a grinder.
Hope that helps.
Ken
Micro 100 boring bars can be easily ground to new cutting edges using a diamond grinding wheel. I do it all the time in my shop with a 320 grit wheel on my surface grinder, usually freehand. When I want "precise", I put the Micro 100 boring bar in my school-made sine bar grinding vise.
Yes you can hone them, but a diamond hone could take a LONG time to get rid of a chipped tip or cutting edge.
I assume you mean 6061 aluminum. Butter for carbide! Run top speed and let 'er rip. I do recommend downloading the Micro 100 catalog, it's full of great information. When I was buying and using them at work, they offered only the dead sharp bars, designated "BB-xxxxxx". A simple code, the first three numbers after the "BB-" is the minimum bore size, the numbers following are the depth it can go. So a BB-320800 can start in a Ø .320 bore and get at least .800" deep.
They now offer TiN coated bars, and ones with a small radius on the tip that help them last a lot longer in steels and stainless steels, getting better finishes than the sharp ones. I'd skip the coating, it's not a big advantage because their sub-micron grade of carbide is so good, and it's gone as soon as you touch it up on a grinder.
Hope that helps.
Ken