Totally Screwed Machine Shop
Living with cheap China Boring Bars
Being the cheap hobby sort of machinist I do not have the funds to spend on a 400$ set of quality brazed boring bars when I can glom up a set for 30$ delivered to my door. You see them on Ebay you see them in the discount tool houses (heck you even see them from discounttool on ebay). I'll be needing a couple sets before it is all over. 1/2" for the boring bar, 5/8" for the lathe's tool post holder etc. So we are wanting cheap but functional.
Here is what I bought. Pretty much the cheapest I could find since I am operating under the premise that all these are the same, from the same factory, made by the same teenage girl whether they cost 25$ or 57$. At 1st glance they looked pretty good but scraping one across the thumbnail showed them dull as could be.
A macro picture showed unfinished run down edges of the brand new unused tool. Chattered and noaned in the cut of course.
So a quick touchup with the "tool grinder" made the boring bar actually work. 5° clearance angles and just a tad under square. You can't really see in the pictures but most of the set had the carbide actually over square so cutting to a square bottom would be a problem.
So all in all I find them to be a good bargain and just like a lot of the import tools/tooling should be considered a kit and not a finished ready to use product.