Make sure Don knows we greatly appreciate these videos.

A technique I discovered that works to hit the size you want bang on with a good finish when boring with carbide insert bars is as follows: - while you still have lots of material in the hole, find a speed/feed/depth of cut you want to have on your final finish pass to provide a good finish. This is often 0.010" or more depth of cut on material that likes to tear rather than cut. Coated inserts usually have a slight radius on the cutting edges and don't like very shallow cuts so if you find yourself needing to take off a thou or two more, you're screwed. - rough the part out taking the biggest possible cuts without the bar screaming leaving roughly three times your finishing pass in the hole. Cool the part if its heated to where it feels warm to touch. - take a theoretical finishing cut using the optimum settings you confirmed already to leave enough material for two more finish cuts. - measure the hole. You now have approximately (but not exactly) 2 finishing passes of material left. Take 50% of what's left as a finishing pass. - measure the hole and take off whatever is remaining to hit your target. The key and idea here is to make sure the last two passes you make are *EXACTLY* the same so the load on the bar is exactly the same thus compensating for flex or slop in the bar, boring head, spindle, mill head, mill ram, mill knee etc. This principle of taking 2 identical finish passes works with anything and in particular on the lathe so you can easily hold a ±0.001 tolerance.

Great video Don. These old school lessons are quickly being forgotten in this age of cnc machines. Any chance I get to run a job on a knee mill I take. These lessons are becoming a lost art. I appreciate every lesson the old school tool makers give.

As I watch this video, I note that it is 8 years old. There is so much good information in it that comes from experience that it's hard to take it all in with the first view. It makes we want to go out and get a Bridgeport and start making stuff (I know that they are hard to find now). Thanks for posting it Don!

In addition to being a great machinist, you do very well explaining your procedure. Thanks.

Great advice and tips for me as a hobby engineer in the uk. Keep making these educational tutorials please Don

Beautiful to watch and good commentary. Excellent,thanks!

So much of machining is an art, and watching machinists at work is one of the best ways to learn that art. The apprentice, journeyman, master machinist method was a great way to learn these skills. I'm trying to do the KZfaq version of that. Probably not as good in many ways, but a very valuable method to learn with little invested but my time... and the time of guys like Don who make these videos. Thanks Don! My initial goal was to teach myself to be a CNC machinist, but that first requires being a good manual machinist, and I'm enjoying the art of manual machining.

Love these instructional videos! I'm an old timer, retired after 34 years working for the Air Force (civilian, not active duty) as Flight Chief for the Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory. Specialized in surface plate and optics work. Know my way around measurement but am a total novice when it comes to operating machine tools. Your video guides are exactly what I need, I hope you can keep them coming. Great work!

Great Video Don, I’m going to trying to use a Boring Bar for the first time in a few Minutes. You did a Great Job of explaining everything from the Setup to Adjustments, to doing a Spring Pass when your close. I really appreciate you and your Videos. 👍

Thanks for posting this.I have never used one of the boring heads on a Bridgeport mill.

another great video Don. The artform you talk about is used in so many aspects of toolmaking. it's the patients element that is often required to nail that size. Urgency or speed is important but only through experience . Its so important that lerning and understanding WHY and WHAT is happeneding during machining will make guys better Toolamkers or machinists alike. Thanks again. (20 years qualified )

I wish there were more gentlemen like you. some of the more experienced guys I know can't or won't pass on thier knowledge in an interesting and engaging way like this, and I feel bad some some of our younger apprentices coming through now, just not getting this kind of education. excellent video, excellent teacher!

you are a blessing for every hobbyist , thanks

Great video and information. Also I love how clean you keep the shop and the machine.

Excellent Video Don & Crew! Thanks very much for sharing!

Very interesting and informative video Don, although I'm not a machinist did work as a mechanical inspector for many years in the aerospace industry. Our machine shop had 3 older Bridgeport mills and several CNC mills. Most of the inspection there was performed on CMM's and digital height gauges in the later years but much of the earlier inspection was accomplished using hand measurement tools such as micrometers, Intrikmik bore gauges, height gauge with dial indicator, pins and gauge blocks and the old stalwart cadillac gauge. My background was in electronics so I switched back and forth from inspection and electrical test. I found however that mechanical inspection to be equally challenging as performing system electronic testing and enjoyed both very much. My only regret is that I never had the opportunity to use and master the machine tools. Keep up the good work and thank you for sharing these great videos.

Great video Don !! Love your skill, knowledge and personality. Thanks for making these .

Nice piece Don. I thought I was the only one to do that to a new brush. I should have patented to process ! Don't give all our secrets away.

Excellent video, Don. IMO, the Criterion head is the best that I know of.

Hi Mr. Bailey Your video's are very informative and well produced!! Keep them coming. Loren

great videos. thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences.

Thank you so much, I have to bore some gate hinges and I learned so much. God Bless!!!

I really enjoy your great instruction. Thank You. Bill from Seattle

Another great shop teacher, Thanks

Good lesson ...thanks, my mentor taught me the same thing regarding the tension on the gib...not need to bite down

Found your videos while trying to pick up tips for milling and machining. I work some in a machine shop as help but didn't do much more then their welding and cutting. I fab everything but I have just recently bought my self a lathe and a Bridgeport mill and now learning how to operate and learning how to use both. i feel like i am learning to walk again. that is how much I feel like I know

When you said let me see your back side I wasn't sure what the hair was going to march lol.. Great vid don

Thanks, Don. Like always, excellant video. I was just telling my wife about you discovering your inner teacher & how much you enjoy it. She may not know you, but she knows Suburban Tool... recognizes the name, anyway. Why? She's been MSC's resident lexicographer for 12, 13 yrs, something like that. Lexi-what-a-fer? LOL That's most people's response. She is the knowledge behind MSC's massive product data challenge, of which Suburban contributes w/ your product line. The data organization behind their search engine, & structure of the product titles is her work focus. Her working for MSC has been a gift to me, too. I've been a builder, maker, fabricator my entire life. I'm retired, now, but something I've wanted to learn since high school is machining, but it was never in the cards, situationally or financially. So, I'm doing it now. I added a lathe to my modest sized, over crowded w/ equipment shop almost 7 yrs ago. Planned on adding a mill sooner, but just got 1 this summer; I've been side tracked w/ cancer for almost 5 yrs, so I'm trying to make up for lost time. MSC has been a great company for her to work for; can't say enough good things about them. The 1 thing whichs directly impacts me is their amazingly generous Employee Purchase Program. Because I have a no income hobby shop, I can buy from MSC, through her employee account @ cost +10. I get to buy all kinds of toys! Which brings me to this video. Looking into a boring head, but I'm also looking at fly cutters. You mentioned the cutting tool could be placed horizontally in the boring head; can it double as a large diameter fly cutter in that config? I have some of your excellant cast iron angle blocks. Got one as a 90⁰ reference for my metrology 'dept' & another to create a make shift milling adapter for the lathe. Nice stuff; wish I could buy more Suburban brand, great quality. If I had a job shop, I be a steady customer. Starrett quality, but not the exorbitant tariff for the name. Thanks for contributing to the knowledge base. GeoD

"So we're gonna do a little boring, and that's not really boring but that's what we're gonna do because it is boring!" LOL

Thanks again for the great videos, I really enjoy watching people who not only know what they are doing but want to pass it on to us "young guys". I am 46 and as far as experience in machining goes I am a infant and that drives me nuts, but better to learn on here than scrap parts even though I am sure that will be a big part of my learning curve.

Simply, Thanks for sharing.

A good trick to get that last bit is to bring the cutter speed up further......the boring head will flex enough being in an unbalanced state to give you and extra half thou radius polish up.........

I use a CNC to duplicate complicated pieces however when I make something for the first time I tend to go back to the old-school machines where the ART Of machining really shines and I could be more versatile and Make quick changes easier……Great presentation ….keep on rocking………..

This was very educational. It's going to help me on my project. One thing I am going to do to get that extra thousandths of an inch is to cut a slit in a small bar and place a strip of 400 grit sand paper in it, and let it turn inside the hole. I learned this works well to get that little extra instead of adjusting the tool. You can't overshoot unless you are careless.

It might be helpful to put your DTI on the cutter, then press sideways on the boring bar to demonstrate how much side pressure causes X amount of deflection of the cutter. When I got my first micrometer I was just experimenting, measuring the different thicknesses of common items. Different samples of paper, feeler gauges, but the most significant was the thickness of different hairs on my head. I could not only measure the thickness of a hair, I could determine the difference between two hairs! So when I was measuring the rod bearing clearance on an engine, I could tell the customer the clearance was less than the difference in thickness of two different hairs on my head.

Gotta love when you see the old school guys put up a hand to block hot chips, the man must have hands like beef jerky!

love your channel. thanx for the vid.

Good info, thanks Don!

Mr. Don. You are great. Kind regards. Milos

thank you very much

nice job and tools

As always Don an excellent video on the the use of a boring head on a milling machine. I would caution you to remove your wedding ring & wrist watch when operating any machine tool to avoid potentially serious injury’s. Picky Picky but this is important when training new shop people. Pleas keep up the great work you & Suburban Tool Inc are doing. BB

very kind hearted!!

Very nice presentation. I agree, we have many boring heads all direct reading, but I'm old school don't trust them so use an indicator and yes spring cuts are your' friend. sam.

Don, I just love your videos! You make me a better hobby machinist. One day soon I am going to save up and buy one of the awesome fly cutters you make! Randy

Awesome!!! Thanks Don!!!

Hi Don thanks for sharing your knowledge, I would like to ask what is the required/suggested deep of cuts when roughing using the boring head and deep of cut when finishing.

All your videos are great thank you! Drilling those holes with your hand there made me a little nervous..

Man that was good !

lol, love this guy

One of the first things that I learned in my t and d apprentice from my father in law was, drill the hole it will run out and probably drill larger, if you want to hole to be straight and to proper size, run a boring bar thru it, that will straighten the hole and then ream it to the proper size , especially if you are wanting to use use the hole for dowel pins. a reamer will follow the hole.

I bought a set of HSS bars...they are superior in most ways.

I agree, a go-no go gage is the best for doing bore sizing. Oftentimes I will turn a set out on the lathe to use, are they the most accurate, no, but they sure are more accurate than trying to use measuring tools to determine the size. All my boring heads read directly to bore size increase on the dial, I actually find it odd that yours does not.

I just put an insert boring bar from the lathe and use that for the boring, allows me to use any insert for any material I want😁

1" offset using gauge block was great for non-DRO machines!

Take that handle off Don before you bang your head on it. I tend to adjust the boring head a bit at a time and without the tool rotating use the quill up and down till it just scratches, thanks Patrick

Well done😊good

Thanks

good master si fu !!>

I've got this same boring bar. Came in a plastic yellow box didn't it? It's a real shame you need 3 different allen wrenches for it. I'm thinking about boring and tapping the allen screw holes for the cutters to use larger allen screws so the larger allen key will fit and won't need the medium one.

Who keeps the shop/ work area so clean/nice looking? An example/procedure to follow , clean work area = good results(at least it helps.)

Is there any suggestion for using form tools on boring heads? I have a tiny import that chucks into collets, and a huge german made one that only takes tools in a flycutter fashion and is meant for huge-to-me holes. Any suggestion for a medium priced boring head with a fine adjustment would be appreciated too!

The best part of boring is using a indicator to move or adjust the boring bar correctly no mistake to make and adjust by gage pins purfectly and boring spindle speed!

"That's a good speed" but what is it? How can we know the RPM that way?

Once you get feel for this you can hold tenths with these boring heads. A full set of deltronic pins is quite helpful.

Nice safety glasses.

Here's a suggestion. Suburban makes a nice Fly Cutter compared to all the Chi-com offerings . You should make a nice boring head ...but I guess Criterion already makes one too

What make or boring bar did you use in the video?

I never know how to do this on a Bridgeport I was wondering where I would use the quill feed. Now I know

This vertical milling what company made?How much does the machine and boreing bar cost?

Tumbs upp

hello Don, ol' school ,thats where its at....

Have wanted a boring head like that just have not done it yet

Why not apply the cutting fluid to the top of the boring bar, and let it run down gradually? I do this all the time with drills, and it keeps the cutting edge better flushed more evenly.

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this before, but on a Criterion each div is .001" on dia. So, it is easier to machine close tolerance holes.

Is it not necessary tighten the gibs in between passes?

Informative but I cringed when your hand was right by those revolving chips while drilling. Thanks for all your videos!

like bearing race in a brake rotor

no need to hold the auto feed unless it was knackered ---like this one

if you were going to press 1.00 " bearing race what size should the whole be like .999 or .98

Did i just see Don bailey use el cheapo boring bar and boring head? 😅

9:35 Cosine error? I'm a new machinist, but don't indicators... indicate, not measure?

I dig boring bars.

how tight would you want for like bearing race press fit

If the pim is .49 and it goes in the the hole, doesn't that mean that the hole is larger than .49?

at 18.30 you stopped then pulled out. that could chip the tip. just saying. nice video.

Speed it up for a pass. Centrifugal force will give you .0005 if unbalanced toward the cut.

Need to have video closeups!!!

great video, but if it was with beginners in mind you forgot to show us how to install the boring bar in the mill, how tight?, can this be used in a lathe ( on a 5 c collet)??, etc. same goes for the o.d. grinding video, you forgot to intro the machine to us, what it is, how to install work-piece / grinding wheel, speeds/*feeds etc.

Wouldn't you want the hole to be +something and -0? A shaft dia would be the opposite at +0/-something. You're at 499 not 500 so whatever is going in there won't fit. Thanks.

I'd have polished out the last thou.

this is so boring...

He is using tool deflection to precisely bore

How boring ha ha all good 👍

Probably best not to wear the watch and especially the ring. Not much danger with the haircut, however :)

thank you very much

Thanks