Woodruff cutter making

[RobWilson]

Hi Chaps 

Pete's post got me thinking of when I needed an odd size woodruff cutter to cut the key seat in my CUB lathe cross slide lead screw I was making , I actually though I had this base covered 
as I have a good selection of said cutters ,but there is always one you dont have . So being Sunday as well I set about making one from the end of a drill bit .

The drill bit . 



The MT shanks are soft enough to turn and are  HSS  , so a quick zip with a zip disc and off came the hard fluted part . 



I gave the centre a quick clean up to remove the rust and crud .




Then slapped it in the Boxford lathe for a spin . 

Ruffed the shank down .



Finished to size , ready to cut some relief.

 


Parting off .



Spun round in the chuck , cutter od turned to finish size and some relief on the outer face being put on .  I used magic marker to see were I was at as I did not want the 
cutter to end up to narrow . 




Job still in the chuck , chuck removed from lathe and fit to dividing head . 



Teeth cut .




Cutting edge relief . 



Sorted . 




Now to harden it ( not the correct way to treat HSS ) I just heated it up cherry ,held it for a minute and stuck it into a bucket of water . 



I did not have a TCG at the time so a few strokes with a wet stone and off I went . 




Job done 




Rob