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[PixMan]

I found this while looking at other things on eBay. It's a long discontinued (yet still quite functional), new old stock Valenite Rigidex solid carbide modular boring bar. This one came fitted with an internal grooving insert. They also accept heads for ANSi/ISO standard boring inserts, though neither the grooving & threading inserts nor any other heads are still available from the maker. I'll keep looking around for other heads and I believe that I'll be able to find inserts somewhere. The two-key fitment of the inserts shouldn't be unique.

Chances are good that I wouldn't be able to find heads for carrying inserts, so I'll see about getting the obsolete prints for them and make one or two. I would get much more use out of it as a chatter-damping boring bar than I would as an internal grooving or threading tool.

The bar is only Ø 5/16" diameter, so the photos are a little deceptive on just how small that drawbar, nut, damping spacer and other parts actually are.






If nothing else, that long bar of carbide is probably useful to cutoff and braze on a head from Kennametal. Total cost: $20 US including shipping.