Turning metals

[John Terefenko]

Hello all

I have a question that involves turning of nonferrous metals. I have been making and turning pens where the blanks I make are made from acrylics and various metals such as aluminum, copper, and brass. I have shown some of those here before. I have been using both standard wood turning tools such as a skew and also carbide cutters in my Easy Wood Tool. The cutters are basically made for wood and acrylics. My question is those that turn metals what do you use??? Are there carbide cutters specific for turning metals??? If so what are they and why are they different. I know carbides come in many many different make-up materials and this is why I believe there is better cutters for me to use when working with these metals. Are cutters with chip breakers better???

If you have a source or a web site that explains in more detail as to what I can use, you can PM me or I am not sure if you can post it here. maybe there is a metal working forum that maybe of use. Now the carbide cutters I have been using have gotten the job done and maybe they are the best for what I do but i thought i would leave no stone unturned if there is something better.

Thanks in advance.

[Tim Rinehart]

While I'm not a professional machinist, there is a wide variety of differences in tooling cutters depending on material, type of cut (milling vs turning), roughing vs finish, and so on. Littlemachineshop is a good place that seems to be most popular among hobby machinists. Under the Info Center and Reference is an article on rake and relief that may shed some initial light on your question.

[Dan Hintz]

Any blade from HSS is more than adequate for cutting soft metals like aluminum, brass, and copper. There are a range of hardnesses available for cutters, but you don't need to really worry about those unless you start working on steel, titanium, and other such hard metals. However, if you want to get into those, you'll want to upgrade to a metal lathe. Only then will you need to truly worry about things like cutter geometry.

[Thom Sturgill]

+1 What Dan said. HSS or Carbide works fine. Speed may be an issue though.

[Marvin Hasenak]

I use a homemade 1/4" wide HSS round nose scraper when turning brass and aluminum, you can buy the tool bits at Enco and McMaster Carr. I like a big sturdy handle with a 1/2" diameter shaft, the smaller chisels don't give me as much control. Speed, that is one you will just have to experiment with. Warning those little pieces of metal that will come off on a cut are HOT, as is the piece of metal that you turn. You will only want to touch it once to see how good it feels.