Boring Head

[Bill Alston]

I bought one of these a while back for metal working. I then realised I could also use it on my wood turning lathe for boring precise size holes and making other accurate parallel cuts. I then saw a video of a guy using one to make wooden rings. I’ve not used it yet but just wondering if anyone else on here uses one?

 

[Bill Alston]

This is the video.

View: https://youtu.be/7YgHzgTKS7Y?si=QXRpFOOs3SmCU6b3

 

[Vincent Vogel]

I use mine to bore salt & pepper shakers and peppermills for the caps and base. You can get a very good fit with one of these. I drill the hole small with a forstner bit and then bore it to size with this tool.

 

[Bill Alston]

I use mine to bore salt & pepper shakers and peppermills for the caps and base. You can get a very good fit with one of these. I drill the hole small with a forstner bit and then bore it to size with this tool.

Yes, this is an ideal tool for this.

 

[Larry Mitchell]

Use mine to finish size for rings.

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

If you have two of them you can do off-set center turning easily. Or only one can off-set one end.

 

[Bill Alston]

I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe I need to make a centre to fit mine.

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

Using a boring head and a dial indicator ball shapes can be made.

From basic math we know a circle (ball) is defined by this equation. X squared plus Y squared equals the ball radius.
X^2 + Y^2 = R

Or,
X = SQRT (R - Y^2). Solve on your phone's calculator app.

The X values would represent the horizontal axis determined by the tailstock quill feed measured by using the dial indicator. The dial graduations on the boring head represent the vertical Y axis. By cutting a stair step the ball arc is approximated. With fine steps sanding or filing gives a true radius.

Back in the pre-CNC days this was a method of approximating ball arcs on metal lathes (except tool movements were done with the lathe carriage). It can be a tedious operation calculating and cutting a fine stair step approximation, it will be accurate though.

Picture shows a partial stair step to represent a segment of the ball arc. With a fairly rigid wood lathe soft metals could be done.

 

[Bill Alston]

Yes I’ve seen a few people make ball turners for metal lathes using a boring head.
I’m interested though is its uses on a wood turning lathe. For example, I don’t have any suitable cutters yet but I’m wondering about using one for turning small parallel cylinders?

 

[robo hippy]

Hmmm, I will have to call Craft Supplies on Monday. This may be the solution I have been looking for to make perfectly aligned mortice and tenons for my threaded boxes....

robo hippy

 

[Bill Alston]

Some of these heads come supplied with either HSS or brazed Carbide boring tools. These are fine for boring holes or cutting the inside of boxes etc. For outside turning though you need a tool with the *opposite orientation. I’ve not seen any yet so I may have to grind my own.

* I suppose you could run the lathe in reverse and cut on the back but I’d rather not do this.

 

[Jim Holcombe]

This type boring head uses a short boring bar with a shank sized to fit the holes in the head. Attached is a pic from Little Machine Shop of a set. They’re available at multiple machine supply houses.

 

[Dennis Weiner]

I bought mine on ebay for about 60 bucks. I require a 3mt, but you can find them with 2mt as well.

3 Piece Boring Head Boring Tool Set (2 Inch Head & MT3 & 1/2 Inch) | eBay

Feature: Head Size 2"; Shank Taper 3MT. Shank To Head 7/8"~20; Boring Bar 1/2"/9pc. Boring Head: Bar holder moves freely and smoothly. Design assures superior rigidity for chatter-free boring and precise hole size accuracy. Hardened and Ground adjusting screw designed for long lasting and...

www.ebay.com

 

[Alan Heffernan]

I have several of these boring heads in the metal working area of my shop. Here's a video of my milling machine boring a casting for a bushing and seal. Of applicable interest here, the tool in the head on this bore was made by me. I needed one that was extra long. It is made from tool steel.

For an application of using one on the tailstock of a wood lathe, the cutting tooling can be ground if needed. A little study should identify the most efficient tool geometry for wood.

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/d-Pi-h8iS1E?si=bk3j57LLDYrNfcWQ

 

[Lou Jacobs]

One of the things I love/hate about this site is that it seems every second time I log in I see something else I’d love to add to my shop. This is an EXPENSIVE site!

 

[Bill Alston]

I bought mine on ebay for about 60 bucks. I require a 3mt, but you can find them with 2mt as well.

3 Piece Boring Head Boring Tool Set (2 Inch Head & MT3 & 1/2 Inch) | eBay

Feature: Head Size 2"; Shank Taper 3MT. Shank To Head 7/8"~20; Boring Bar 1/2"/9pc. Boring Head: Bar holder moves freely and smoothly. Design assures superior rigidity for chatter-free boring and precise hole size accuracy. Hardened and Ground adjusting screw designed for long lasting and...

www.ebay.com

Mine came with interchangeable MT3 arbor to fit my mill. When I realised it could be of use on my lathe I bought an additional MT2 arbor for it as well.

 

[Dennis Weiner]

a 4-inch boring head is on my list!

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

Mine came with interchangeable MT3 arbor to fit my mill. When I realised it could be of use on my lathe I bought an additional MT2 arbor for it as well.

I have had my boring head for more than 20 years and like Bill it came with interchangeable arbors. I have the MT3 arbor that I use on my LaBlond lathe but at the time a MT2 arbor was not available so I purchased a 1/2" straight arbor to use with an R8 1/2 " collet on my Bridgeport mill. To use it on the wood lathe I made an adaptor that screws on to the male thread on the head and the other end fits over the quill of the tailstock and is held in place by two set screws into the key way, which provides a good solid mounting that does not rely on an MT2 arbor that due to the function of the tailstock can not be secured with a draw bar.

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

I suppose you could run the lathe in reverse and cut on the back but I’d rather not do this.

Might not be a great idea since all small boring heads I have use a threaded mount, 7/8-20 as I recall. You don't want the head to unscrew from the shank.

 

[Bill Alston]

Might not be a great idea since all small boring heads I have use a threaded mount, 7/8-20 as I recall. You don't want the head to unscrew from the shank.

Yes! Good point, I hadn’t thought of that.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

The pictures are worth a lot more than the written description in my previous post. To make the standard Carbide boring bars work better on wood I used a small diamond bur about 1.5mm diameter to cup the carbide cutting edge.

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

When we needed a special cutter for the boring head like for cutting an outside diameter we TIG welded a piece of of HSS to a mild steel shank. Then ground the HSS to the proper cutting edge.

 

[Gary Beasley]

Craft Supply carries the same boring heads for ringmaking. Comes in a case with several assorted size cutting bars and allen keys to fit.

 

[Alan Heffernan]

View attachment 59710
The pictures are worth a lot more than the written description in my previous post. To make the standard Carbide boring bars work better on wood I used a small diamond bur about 1.5mm diameter to cup the carbide cutting edge.

Don, Thanks for the post and reinforcing the notion that metal cutting tools are not the best on wood. The geometry of the tool is different for wood.