1/2" Boring BAR Set PRO Quality 9 PCS Carbide Tipped Bars 1/2" Shank Lathe Tool

**!** If you're buying these to use with the AXA quick change tool post, please read- The Chinese made AXA quick change tool post comes with five different holders. The boring bar holder will only hold boring bars with a minimum of 5/8" shank, and a maximum of 3/4" shank. I did not know this when I purchased this set of boring bars. I purchased my quick change tool post the same time I ordered these boring bars because Amazon recommended they go together. They will work together though! You will either have to make a bushing to go into your boring bar holder so it will hold a 1/2" shank, OR, you can do as I did and use one of the turning tool holders to hold these bars. One of the two normal tool holders include in the Chinese quick change tool post has a "v" groove milled in the bottom of it so you can clamp in round shanks. It will work fine for these little bars. But it would've been nice to know that these don't exactly work with the dedicated and much more rigid boring bar holder. I purchased an indexable boring bar with 5/8" shank to go into the actual boring bar holder which is what I use for heavier boring that requires rigidity. These bars are so small though that your typically only going to use them to bore very small holes so the normal tool holder will clamp them down just fine. Like I said, you can make a bushing or shim them into the boring bar holder if you so desire though, but they work just fine without. Now for the review of the bars themselves-These are great for the price. I use them on the lathe when I need to bore in a tight spot that I cannot use an indexable boring bar. I like the fact that some bars are short with narrow cutting heads as well as long bars with narrow and wider cutting heads. If you need to bore a narrow but deep hole, the long shank with narrow cutting heads are very useful. I'd say the smallest bore you could fit these bars in is about 3/8". Definitely no smaller. They hold an edge pretty good. I've bored 12 gears from 1/2"-5/8" now, with the same bar and it's still cutting.

Haven't used these, but they look decent enough for the price. The packaging however, could have been better. The shrink wrap plastic around the set wasn't thick enough for their weight and sharp edges, so they cut their way through in transit, and showed up knocking around inside the box. Fortunately, none of the carbide tips got chipped.

This is a great set. I ended up needing to purchase a size that wasn’t included here, but if you need these sizes I’d purchase it

Use can be extracted from these if you have the equipment and time required to get them to a correct shape. As received, they are basically useless for anything harder than a stick of butter. After working on a couple with diamond for a while, I was able to get passable performance with aluminum and steel.

I knew something was wrong when I picked up the box on delivery. I could hear tools rattling around and when I opened the box several of the tools had chipped cutting edges from bumping into each other. They are carbide tipped and carbide is very brittle. I can not recommend this product.

Received the boring tool set & satisfied with the look of the tools & grinding of the carbide surfaces-I'm sure they can be used as received -with out touch up grinding -Good value for price of the set-Thanks-Dave Richardson

I purchased this set because I needed to finish bore a hole in aluminum in my garage hobby shop. I only used the single largest and longest boring bar and it worked reasonably well. Deflection seemed to not be a problem and the quality of my machined surface was great. Good value for the hobby machinist working with softer metals.

Carbide is good quality, no chipping (mild steel), needed some of the clearance angles reground