Form tools on the lathe

[Shawn]

I was watching Toms video last night about using a corner rounding endmill to cut a radius in the lathe and had to give it a try today. I had a 1/4" thick piece of O1 tool steel in the shop so I cut a couple short pieces. I used a 10 degree angle to place the piece in my mill vice and used a 3/8th endmill to plunge cut a radius. I know it won't be a perfect circle due to the angle at which I held the work but I couldn't think of a better way to get the clearance angle I needed. Then it was just a matter of grinding the tool to provide clearance angles on the front and side edges, heat treat and an hour in the toaster oven at 400 degrees to temper. I cleaned up the edges with a diamond hone and tried cutting a ball in aluminum bar. Took a bit of fine tuning on the grinder but I can see making a number of these form tools for adding some detail to handles etc. 
















The pics didn't come out in order but it's easy enough to get the idea. I have one more tool in the oven right now and will post a few close up photos soon. 

Shawn