Beware of Cheap Grizzly Boring Bars!

J

Joe Woosman

Member
I bit on the deal and bought a Grizzly $30 boring bar advertised to take the same inserts I use in an Iscar $130 bar. As they say, "you get what you pay for". The insert pocket is machined with improper geometry for the inserts and they rub on the trailing edge making the bar absolutely suitable for the scrap bucket! I knew it was too good to be true.
 
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I don't buy the cheap Communist stuff, period!!

Why? Those are the bastards we really need to take care of, not the CJ's!
 
Butch Lambert said:
Joe,
The first thing to do is contact the vendor first.
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I'm not sure I understand why Butch..??:confused: It's not like I set out to tarnish the name of a supplier of known high quality products. I thought it was common knowledge Grizzly supplies a lot of REALLY cheap products from China, Tawan, etc. Hey, maybe I just got a rare bad one and they can have a talk with their quality control department.:rolleyes:

Seriously, was my post out of line?
 
JerrySharrett said:
CCBW has a policy about bashing vendors, but, if something is really bad how else can we find out?
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Oh, I see. Well let me just clarify my post then. I had no intentions of bashing Grizzly in this case. They are a wonderful source for items that resemble high quality products at greatly reduced prices. I happen to own a bunch of Grizzly woodworking equipment. Planers, shapers, etc. All has served me very well, especially considering the price I paid. If I were making my living building cabinets I would probably invest in other equipment. I make my living machining things. The boring bar will remain in my scrap bucket unless someone here is in need of it. I'd be glad to send it to you. I'm really not upset about the whole deal. I actually laughed about it like "well what did ya expect". If sharing this ruffled any feathers than I apologize.
 
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Joe Woosman said:
I bit on the deal and bought a Grizzly $30 boring bar advertised to take the same inserts I use in an Iscar $130 bar. As they say, "you get what you pay for". The insert pocket is machined with improper geometry for the inserts and they rub on the trailing edge making the bar absolutely suitable for the scrap bucket! I knew it was too good to be true.
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Isn't that what 5 minutes of die grinding work is for?
 
Don said:
Isn't that what 5 minutes of die grinding work is for?
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Not in my opinion. The insert pocket geometry provides the support for the insert. If you grind metal away to rotate the insert into a better position the screw in the center of the insert then takes the load ending in insert breakage, screw loosening or the insert moving in the pocket.
 
Easy to grind clearance, but the insert face may be at the wrong angle, too. Would it help to rotate the entire bar by regrinding the setscrew flat?
F1
 
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Guess I would have to see what the setup looks like before further commenting.

I know sometimes I have to angle or set certain boring bars/inserts high in order to avoid clearance problems.
 
I sure wouldn't grind to make it fit. Send it back and have them grind it. Every minute Joe is away from his job he is losing money.
 
If Joe tackled the re do on that bar he coulda bought a new iscar that is right with the money he would be going thru. All the right angles and not made from recycled dental metal.
 
I don't remember exactly how I did it, but o broke one of my Arthur Warner HSS tool bars. A phone call later and I had a new one heading my way. I have spent several Dollars with Grizzly tool, and they have always backed up there product. I see no reason what so ever they wouldn't do the same for you. good luck friend. Lee
 
Warner must have had a bad run when I bought all their tooling. The screws for the thread tool snapped and the big box of turning inserts dont have clearance under the cutting edge. Put me back on valenite and seco. Like Joe i just shoulda known but these werent $30 tools
 
I have some of those inserts also. they replaced them for me. I don't care much for the threading tool. Actually I sent it back no questions asked. I do however like some of warners turning tools. The strange thing I don't get is that it seems everyone loves the threading tool. I truly didn't have good luck with the one I had. Threads looked rough. Lee
 
Some food for thought...

Most of the insert tooling out there is considered ISO standardized. What this means is if you have a standard insert designation such as a WNMG "trigon" style insert, you should be able to use any companies proper size WNMG insert in your bar, AND you should be able to use any companies bar with your inserts. To do this, companies need to hold insert pocket dimensions to the standards required for proper insert positioning. If the angles are off, it may not be obvious but the cutting edges of the insert can be held at improper angles causing numerous problems. Even if it appears to cut okay you may be sacrificing tool life.

Cutting the potentially long story short - I have consumed tens of thousands of inserts in my career from brands like Iscar, Seco, Kennametal, etc., etc. I have never from these brands seen anything even remotely close to the things Dusty and Lee just described. Whoever is producing these tools is attempting to make them look like the tool but they clearly lack the understanding of what that tool is supposed to do. Most of the name brand boring bars are near carbon copies of each other except for the name on it.
 
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