Advice on carbide insert boring bar

[Highpower]

(01-18-2015, 10:19 AM)DaveH Wrote: I'm a bit like Ken I would only buy good (branded) quality inserts. I have seen guys buy cheap inserts and they didn't cut to well (in the home workshop).
 
DaveH

Yeah, I finally figured that out a couple of years ago Dave. The first boring bar I ever bought was a typical POS import from Enco. The inserts are equally worthless. Then I picked up a few Dorian tool holders and inserts which made a world of difference, but I'm thinking I could do better on the inserts. I have a hard time finding most of the ones that Ken talks about because the places I usually buy from don't have them. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I don't know to compare one brands numbering scheme to another, so I look for the exact brand and number posted. I just can't figure out who has any to sell.

[PixMan]

You guys can always ping me when you have ANY question about carbide insert tooling, from lathe holders to milling cutters and inserts for them. It's my forte!

Walter tooling is sold by MSC (usually above list price by at least 5% on their website), but they don't actually list even 10% of the 45,000+ Walter-Titex-Prototyp-Valenite branded items in their MSC "Big Book" catalog. Carbide Depot also has them, same story of listing but they sell at or a little below list.

I do find it very frustrating that they don't have any means of finding the more-local distributors on their website, but you can always call them to ask. In the US, 1-800-945-5554

On my home computer I keep a vast library of all the major (and many smaller) tooling companies' catalogs, current and archived obsolete. This helps me find info on anything you need. I default to Walter stuff because it's so reliable. Theirs is the only catalog I've found that when you look up a cutting speed, feed and depth of cut for a given insert in a given material, it WORKS as advertised.