Re-workedNova tool rest

[Bill Bolen]

Seems like no matter how many times I filed this tool rest I was never happy with it when using my big bowl scrapper on edge for a shear scrape on the interior sides of bowls. Having just gotten the 9" Robust tool rest and falling in love with it I stole their idea of using a piece of drill rod glued to the edge of the rest. My what a difference that piece of rod made for me. Skew edge or scrapper either one now glide over that edge just as smooth as can be, I used extra strength epoxy from the borg to attach...Bill...

[Bernie Weishapl]

Wonder if JB Weld would work Bill. I got some drill rod. If not will have to wait till the next time I get to the borg. 144 miles to the nearest.

[Mike Stephens]

Looks great Bill. I need to try this. I am really getting tired of filing my tool rest.

[Bill Bolen]

I was going to use JB weld Bernie but when the time came the tube was all dried up! I think you will be just fine...Bill...

[Jim Slovik]

JB weld does a great job. I've made several with no failures to date.
Jim

[David E Keller]

Looks good. Yet another on the to-do-list.

What's the borg? Never heard the term.

[Jerry Pittman]

Bernie,
+1 on what Jim said. JBWeld will work just fine, I did the same thing to a 3" Nova tool rest about 18 months ago and it is still as good as the day I did it.
Jerry

[Gary Chester]

David,

Borg is Home Depot, Lowes type store...

[Jim Sebring]

Did you mill a groove into the rest before gluing the rod on?

[Jerry Pittman]

Jim,
Yes, I put a shallow groove in the top edge of the toolrest with a rat-tail file since it was only 3 inches. I haven't done my 12" toolrest yet because I can't figure out a good way to make the groove. Any suggestions if a milling machine is not available?
Jerry

[Bill Bolen]

No, I did not put a locating groove in the toolrest prior to the glue up. I put a piece of blue tape on the back side of the toolrest to control the mess then a heavy bead of glue on the tool rest till I had some squeeze out. A few more pieces of tape to wrap over as a clamp and set aside on a flat surface overnight to dry. I've been using it constantly for about 2 weeks now with no movement or loosening...Bill...

[Chris Stolicky]

I have been tossing around the idea of doing this for a while. I have two of the robust rests and really like them, but I also have some dinged up cast iron one's laying around.

Question, where is the best place to get some 1/4" drill rod? And what type of steel?

I see that Enco sells 1/4" (8" long) drill rod (tool bits) for $2.48 plus the relative expense of shipping. If you look at McMaster Carr, for example, there are all kinds of compositions for "drilll rod". From Grade A2, D2, M2, M2/M7, M42, O-1, S-7, W-1, and Tungsten High Speed steel. It makes my head spin. And I took "steel" as a course in college!

I guess the question is, is the Enco "HSS" good enough to withstand the abuse a tool rest gets, or is one of the alphabet soup options that McMAster Carr offers a better choice? I'm sure there are several other places to get the material. These are simply examples.

[Bill Bolen]

I got my 3/8 and 1/4 drill rod from the bin at Fastenal (stores all over the country) they come in 3' lengths for something like $3 each. I'd save the highspeed steel to make cutting bits with. Drill rod is plenty hard enough for the tool rest and much less expensive than drill rod...Bill..

[Mark Hubl]

Chris,

If you poke around the McMaster-Carr site you will find a section that describes the different Grades and common uses. I am wondering if O1 is hard enough. Seems the optimum would be something approaching the hardness of the HSS tools?

Bill and Jerry, what grade of Drill Rod did you guys use?

[Chris Stolicky]

Chris,

If you poke around the McMaster-Carr site you will find a section that describes the different Grades and common uses. I am wondering if O1 is hard enough. Seems the optimum would be something approaching the hardness of the HSS tools?

Bill and Jerry, what grade of Drill Rod did you guys use?

I did do some reading and was liking the description of the S-7 shock resistant steel, but was wondering if it was really over-kill. I would think something similar to HSS, or even harder would be better if you wanted to avoid dings...

[Paul Atkins]

I had a friend tack weld the W-1 drill rod on my homemade rest for my outboard stand. The ends are probably a bit softer than the rest of it, but 95% of the use is in the middle area. The drill rod is 3/8" and used as purchased with no hardening. Very quick and simple too. I think 3 feet of it was about 5 bucks.

[Matt Owen]

I did do some reading and was liking the description of the S-7 shock resistant steel, but was wondering if it was really over-kill. I would think something similar to HSS, or even harder would be better if you wanted to avoid dings...

Chris,

S-7 would work fine if you're willing to pay for it. Any of the tool steels will work better than the cold rolled steels used for most tool rests, even if the tool steel isn't hardened. If you know how to heat treat, even better.

Matt

[Porter Bassett]

I did do some reading and was liking the description of the S-7 shock resistant steel, but was wondering if it was really over-kill. I would think something similar to HSS, or even harder would be better if you wanted to avoid dings...If you get it harder than your tools, you're going have to start worrying about getting dings in your tools instead of your tool rest...

[Jerry Pittman]

Mark,
I don't remember which rod I used but a sharp edge of a skew will still make a small mark but much less than a cast iron tool rest. I relieve the edges of all my flat tools to help reduce the marking but that still wasn't enough for cast iron.
Jerry

[Chris Stolicky]

Chris,

S-7 would work fine if you're willing to pay for it. Any of the tool steels will work better than the cold rolled steels used for most tool rests, even if the tool steel isn't hardened. If you know how to heat treat, even better.

Matt

Yeah, that's why I proposed my first question. It seemed like there are cheaper options out there.


If you get it harder than your tools, you're going have to start worrying about getting dings in your tools instead of your tool rest...

I was waiting for this issue to be thrown out. I guess this is why the ideal situation is to have something close to HSS.



Fastenal sound like a good option. I think I have one near me.

[Allen Neighbors]

Jim,
Yes, I put a shallow groove in the top edge of the toolrest with a rat-tail file since it was only 3 inches. I haven't done my 12" toolrest yet because I can't figure out a good way to make the groove. Any suggestions if a milling machine is not available?
Jerry
I used my dremel tool with a cutoff blade to make a half decent groove in my 12" toolrest before I attached the drill rod. It doesn't have to be perfect, just enough to give a little "tooth" for the PC7 or epoxy/JBWeld etc, to grab.