Parting tool question

[chucketn]

I have been busy making aluminum QCTP tool holders for those once in a while tools that we hate to take another tool out of its holder to use.
Last night I was making the knurled wheels (mat’l aluminum) for setting tool height. I drilled a piece of al bar and tapped for the height screw, sectioned off 4 wheels, and chamfered the edges. My question is, can I grind a parting blade with a slight angle on the tip to cut the parted piece clean? How much angle?

   

Chuck

[TomG]

Chuck,

Angle it 20º-30º so the pointy side is on the right. You'll need to choke up on the parting tool as much as possible because it will want to walk to the right. Another option is to use less angle and hold a pin the size of the hole (the shank of a twist drill works well) in the tailstock to support the parts as you cut them off.

Tom