Thread: Looking for advice from anyone with tool making experience

Before I go about town talking to engineering shops, I'll ask on here first..

If I wanted to have a lathe grooving/cutting tool reshaped with a different angle or shape, what kind of engineering shop should I be looking for? (No I'm not going to do it myself with a file)
Are there specialists I can mail my specs to have it done?
As an example, if I wanted a small cutting tool thats shaped the same as a particular cartridge rim and extractor groove to modify parent cases for case conversions.

I'm going to say it. Forget about the type of shop....find an old wrinkled,grey haired lathe jockey.... Someone who has spent working life on lathe and will in times of need done just what you want done

Haha MD that's precisely why I came here first. I'm hoping there's a wrinkled old lathe jockey who can help me out

Just take it into an engineering shop if there are any local sure there would be a helpful person that can do it.
I’m to far away from you but sure there is something local to you.

Just take it into an engineering shop if there are any local sure there would be a helpful person that can do it.
I’m to far away from you but sure there is something local to you.
Someone on the site closer to you will be able to offer help I would think.

Will depend a little on the complexity and quality of the shape you want machined. Any good machinist can do a lot of good things with just a bench grinder but if to complex then a proper tool grinder and or surface grinder may be needed.

There is not very much that can't be accomplished on a bench grinder when it comes to HSS lathe tools. The grinder must have to correct grade of wheel, and a diamond wheel dresser is essential (any long-established machine shop should have them). The diamond can be used to dress the wheel to any desired shape (a sheet metal template can be made to check this). Rake angles are determined by the material you are going to turn, flatter for hard, steeper for soft. A deep breath, a steady hand, and go for it! If Shannon and Clyde were a bit closer I could do it for you.

Yep, start with a good long piece of HSS tool blank. Get on the bench grinder to rough it in. The finer details might need a go at with a dremel cut off wheel. Before you've turned the entire HSS tool blank into dust I'm sure you would have a serviceable tool. If it's in brass for a cartridge no top rake is needed so just becomes a case of grinding away the HSS that isn't the shape you want and then making sure there's a bit of clearance underneath.

I'm a real hobbyist amateur and grind my own specific HSS tools for weird and wacky things quite often. They sometimes look ghastly and ugly but only a small portion of the tool touches the work, if that bit is tidy and in the shape you want, you're golden.

A 1mm angle grinder disk is really good to get little detail with.
Everyone assumes your talk HSS too. I've ground a load of carbide into tools too. Need respirator as it's not good for you

Originally Posted by -BW-

Before I go about town talking to engineering shops, I'll ask on here first..

If I wanted to have a lathe grooving/cutting tool reshaped with a different angle or shape, what kind of engineering shop should I be looking for? (No I'm not going to do it myself with a file)
Are there specialists I can mail my specs to have it done?
As an example, if I wanted a small cutting tool thats shaped the same as a particular cartridge rim and extractor groove to modify parent cases for case conversions.

Sounds like a job for a wire cutter, might cost a bit if too fiddly.

CO2, fibre or plasma is no go, they will leave a shitty cut on HSS M2 or D2 tool.

Generally a 'white' grade grinding wheel, a tub of coolant/water and a flattening and profiling tool (diamond dresser).

If it is for a cartridge rim, what I would suggest is grabbing a small section of hss tool steel as close to the finished tool size as you can get and brazing it onto a chunk of mild steel about the size you need for your tool holder. Or, a tool holder for that size of tool steel and then you can just clamp it and go to town which is the better option again.

Reason for this is the less metal you have to remove the less heat you generate and the less cooling and risk to the heat treatment of the tool steel (this is the dreaded 'blued edge' when you've got the edge of the piece of tool steel too hot, and it will either blunt quickly, chip off or weld itself to the material you are cutting).

What you are talking about profile wise sounds fairly simple, I've ground up thread cutting tools and things like belt V-section tools which sound somewhat similar and it's not too hard as suggested - a good metal layout or marking out dye and a steady hand with the 'right' ppe and proceed slowly cooling often. Keep the grinding wheel clean/dressed as well as a wheel lodged pr packed with surface crustys will produce a lot more heat.

This is actually not strictly speaking a 'toolmaker' job - any machinist/turner should be able to do this as it's a reasonably common job in the industry.