amy974•1mo ago

The before and after on my lathe insert after switching to ceramic inserts is wild

I mean, I ran the same carbide insert for like 8 months on my Haas lathe, cutting mostly 4140 steel. It worked fine but always had that slightly rough finish, you know? Then last week I switched to a ceramic insert I got from a guy at a local shop, and the difference is insane. After just one day, the surface finish went from like a 63 Ra to a 16 Ra, no joke. It cut my cycle time by almost a minute per part because I could crank up the speed. Has anyone else tried ceramic on hardened stuff? It feels almost too good to be true.

2 comments

2 Comments

grace_campbell1mo ago

Threw some ceramic inserts in my old Okuma LB15 last month cutting 58-60 Rc tool steel. Surface finish went from a 32 Ra to around a 12 Ra and it cut the cycle time by 40 seconds per part. Feels sketchy running them that fast but they hold up way better than I expected.

wells.olivia1mo ago

40 seconds a part? That's wild, I didn't think ceramics could handle that kind of heat on tool steel.