Neck turner cutter question

[newmexkid]

The cutter on my neck turning setup seems to cut with about 1/3 of the cutter edge. Kinda like the cutter shaft is off-center. I have taken it apart, cleaned it and looked at it very closely. It does the job but, I feel it should cut with the entire edge of the cutter not just a portion of it. With the cutter on the neck of a piece of brass I can lift it up to a light and I can clearly see light between the cutter edge and the brass except at one small area. Is they normal?

 

[J E Custom]

The cutter on my neck turning setup seems to cut with about 1/3 of the cutter edge. Kinda like the cutter shaft is off-center. I have taken it apart, cleaned it and looked at it very closely. It does the job but, I feel it should cut with the entire edge of the cutter not just a portion of it. With the cutter on the neck of a piece of brass I can lift it up to a light and I can clearly see light between the cutter edge and the brass except at one small area. Is they normal?

They have a leading edge that is closet to the case and should not cut along it entirety
as you turn the neck you also feed it in and the leading edge does the cutting.

If the cutter is flat it will sometimes chatter and does not produce a smooth cut.

It should also have a very small radius on the leading edge of the cutter that allows the transition
from the turned surface to the shoulder to be smooth.


J E CUSTOM

 

[Trickymissfit]

it sounds like it's setup OK. You never want the entire width of the cutter to be cutting at the sametime. To be exact less is better. There will be a radius at the tip if the cutter, and you want at least .04R, and really a little more. Your cutting brass, and this is a soft metal. So the amount of relief in the cutter is kind of important. This is one of the bad things about using a carbide tipped cutter, as most grinds have a low amount of relief. I increased the amount on mine, and it made a big difference in finish and consistency. I now wish that I had also changed the radius that Sinclair used as well, but it's too late now. I did build a new cutter head for the Sinclair out of Rex 95. Decreased the radius to where it was about .075", and got the correct relief. It cut amazingly well! But yours truly managed to drop that cutter, and chip the tip! Never got time to regrind it, and quit working before I got that done.
gary

 

[newmexkid]

Well...Thanks guys for the info. Guess I worried about nothing. Just making myself go crazy, (should be a short trip) LOL.