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Changing bits on a Williams boring bar

kilroyjones

Hot Rolled
Joined
May 22, 2005
Location
South Central Kansas
Time for me to ask yet another stupid question...

I found two 1/2" "Williams Sleeve Bar" boring bars. They were in a box of stuff that came with my lathe. I have the spanner wrench that fits the head but I can't find away to take the cutter loose.

I had them soaking in some oil and had forgot about them for a few weeks. Until this morning when I went into the shop and dumped over the can holding the bars and oil.

From what I can see the top of the cutter is fitted into a slot on the bar head. So I cant turn the head. The bottom of the cutter is set into a slot on the sleeve so I can't turn the sleeve. The sleeve won't slide down the shaft so I am out of ideas.

Instead of tearing up the bars trying to figure something out, I thought I would ask the pros. How the #%$%$^ do you get this thing apart?
BORINGBAR.jpg
 
I guess I haven't seen one in person, but I am thinking the sleeve slides down the bar (???)

So..torch, except keep off that pesky lever ;)

Or possibly electrolysis would "burn out" the rust that I think has frozen the sleeve, over a period of several days.
 
try using a vise-grip chain wrench to turn the complete tool holder head.
IIRC the toolbit is held in the slot and everything turns to lock the bit into all 3 pieces against a taper where the sleeve is..jim
 
I think Jim is closest
The two partial slots on the end are for a special wrench to tighten what amounts to a bolt into the bar. The sleeve is sandwiched between the bolt head and toolbit on one side versus a shoulder on the bar on the other side.
 
IIRC the toolbit is held in the slot and everything turns to lock the bit into all 3 pieces against a taper where the sleeve is..jim
We have a winner! Thanks Jim.

Put a propane torch to it for a few seconds then held it in a vise. Used the spanner wrench with a cheater pipe and it broke free.

The bolt (head), sleeve and cutter all turn together. After the bolt is removed from the shaft the sleeve slides down the bolt releasing the tool. Simple enough to make me feel foolish. :rolleyes:
 
These boring bars are nice to have around. All of them I've seen have a 45 degree slot in them so you can face the bottom of a bore.

They're not so great for heavy cuts or threading. If you're not careful, they will let the tool rotate downward.

BTW, I think, by the looks of most of the bars I've seen, the proper usage is to throw the wrench away and use vise grips

:eek:

Kevin
 
BTW, I think, by the looks of most of the bars I've seen, the proper usage is to throw the wrench away and use vise grips
The lathe is a South Bend 9A that came from a refinery that was being demolished. It was in the pump repair shop, and was closely guarded by the pump shop employees.

They had to make parts with very close tolerances, so the lathe and tooling was not used by anyone other than the pump shop. When I got the lathe you could tell that it had been cared for. No gouges or dings in the bed ways, and no sign of the vise-grip torque wrench.

The pump shop had a new import lathe that was inaccuarate junk from the first day they got it. Any time some other dept needed to use a lathe, they were told to use the import. The import was the newest and best lathe in the shop, or so the story was told... :D
 
Your Williams bars look almost identical to some bars weve made at work for pull-broaching. This works well in a heavily constructed 24" Koping, probably not as well in a lighter machine.

The shop-made bars use a pair of through bolts to secure the cap to the bar. The bar is started just past the bore at the headstock end & pulled toward the tailstock. Slower than a press, but works well if you don't have the correct sized broach.

-------------------
Barry Milton
 








 
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