Shop Made 85mm Bar Gets Tested (In Literally the WORST Machining Conditions)

It's been one a heck of a week in the shop!
We've just upgraded our big Alpha Colchester 1760 Lathe (HAL) with a brand new shop made cross-slide bar holder equipped with three shop made tools, specifically for all the biggest jobs.
1) The KRAKEN - a 110mm shop made HTS style drill
2) The HYDRA - an 85mm (40kg) shop made multi-headed bar
3) The BEAST - a 95mm bar (780mm long) for hogging out
In this video we test out THE HYDRA in some of the worst cutting conditions imaginable - elliptical, interrupted and filled with weld. We're making an 8" ID hose clamp for the cuttings on the big rig. An extremely challenging setup, matched only by the horrible cutting conditions.
Let's get machining...
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About HAL Heavy Duty:
We're a real life machine shop for a 60 year old drilling company located in Central Qld, Australia. Our job is to keep rigs running in the field, constantly making the gear they need to get the job done. We run two CNC's, manual repair lathes, mills and are constantly having to make weird and wonderful shop made tools to get the job done. We're a little shop that takes on big projects. The latest is our MEGADRILL project where we're manufacturing a 3.0m drill bit that'll weigh upward of 20 tonnes. We release one video a week (usually on Friday/Saturday) to give you all a window into our heavy duty world.
#australianmachinist #machinistlife #machineshoplife #cnclife #heavydutyequipment #australiandrilling

[@paulhammond7489]

The XXL hose clamp turned out fantastic, looking forward to seeing the others next time

[@halheavyduty]

Cheers my friend!

[@a-fl-man640]

keep it in the family! thanks for taking the time to reply.

[@halheavyduty]

No worries at all mate. Appreciate you tuning in and being part of it all 👊

[@grege2383]

Great video. With the hardened steel shavings, I'm surprised your local blacksmiths are not wanting them, it would make for some cool damascus patterns.

[@halheavyduty]

😂😂😂

[@garytelling397]

Nice one Matt. It's always a great feeling when you plan the job and make your own tools, and it all works as planned😁

[@halheavyduty]

Cheers Gary!

[@PaulSteMarie]

That first cut with the CNMG actually sounds pretty good. Yes, it's interrupted, but there's no sharp impact sounds-just very smooth entries and exits. I've had interrupted cuts that sounded like machine gun fire. The saw tooth cut with the DCMT insert did have some percussion going on, but not really bad.

[@halheavyduty]

Im pretty happy with how it performed. Very rigid considering how long it is.

[@fastst1]

Much calmer shop dog than CEE :)

[@halheavyduty]

Haha. He’s the best boy. That dog is the happiest, friendliest guard dog in history. His companion (Penny) however… faaaark. She’s nuts

[@cruorr]

Haha I wanted to comment how much I enjoyed the docile hound introduction compared to Kurtis' bully beast 😂

[@davidcashin9194]

Cannot wait to see the big bars in operation awesome.

[@halheavyduty]

You’re gonna love the next video. Just finished the job and it was a cracker!

[@mathewritchie]

Is it my imagination or was the bar dipping down every time the cutter hit a high spot?

[@halheavyduty]

Definitely not your imagination brother

[@shanerorko8076]

That's tool loading, that is why you do multiple cuts, so when there's no high spots you get consistent tool loading.

[@halheavyduty]

💯

[@grahamkeegan2706]

Nicely done👍👍👍. That was a decent fabrication to be fair - the boys did a good job on it. Were you using a 1.6r on the CNMG ? I found them to be great for intermittent cutting. It sounded good on the cuts though - even the first pass wasn't bad at all and the deflection on the bar wasn't too serious. Were you getting much movement in the holder frame? I see you followed my suggestion of wrapping the drill to reduce resonance ;)

[@halheavyduty]

Thanks again for the suggestion! It worked great. I ran it without the rubber first and got a little vibration. Followed your suggestion and it totally disappeared! Legend. Yeah, 1.6R They’re bloody fantastic for crappy conditions. Very tough inserts.

[@crunchytheclown9694]

Spare a thought for the men who did this on manual machines for so many years :-):-)

[@MWL4466]

Yes. Been running manual machines now for 30 years. Got the scars, aches and pains to prove it too. It's hard on a body !

[@halheavyduty]

I watched my Grandad do amazing stuff on a manual lathe for 25 years. I wish he could see all this stuff. He’d have loved it. He was always happiest behind his big green machine… just tinkering away making the coolest stuff. He was a real genius at it all. Totally self taught.

[@PrincessAnnabellzDad]

They still do. Manual machines will always be viable.

[@elischultes6587]

Grandad refused to go to CNC. I wish I had learned more from him. In the end I think he was running 6-8 screw machines. Making the screws to hold on the cup to polish your teeth. I know at one time he had to make a jig to put a 7m radius on a 45cm part. (I don’t know the true dimensions and I converted from imperial). He got drafted to fight in Korea. Then met Grandmom. Became a pacifist and limited his career by limiting what he made. He was polishing glass for rifle scopes not intended for military service. Redfield was top of the line at the time in the US. He also made the quick disconnect oxygen supply for F14 or F16 fighters. Probably the F14.

[@halheavyduty]

Absolutely. More than half of our work is done on manual machines. I find them a joy to operate. The ultimate stress reliever in my opinion.

[@user-rc8oy1nm1d]

Well done on another great video Matt. Interesting to see the tool post holder, I wasn't sure exactly what it was but seeing it in action explains everything.

[@halheavyduty]

Cheers mate! Glad it makes sense now. We needed a super rigid setup to run the big monster tools. Our original toolpost just cannot handle them.

[@steveb9270]

Looks like it's time for a horizontal borer. Cheers

[@markfryer9880]

Do you mean a Trepanning tool? They have one but I am not sure why they aren't using it? Matt will explain why at some stage. Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺

[@halheavyduty]

That or a megabore

[@gerardlochmans589]

Niceley dune! Here an idea from a NON machinist (retired optician)... why the 2 spouts gusing fluid to the cutting insert... you can attach a "gardenhose piece" to 1 of the spouts clamp it to the top of the Hydra near the cros slide and an other clamp at the front near your insert mount a piece of copper pipe with a bend in it aiming at your insert and I think you get better coling and less mess??? Greatings from the Netherlands.

[@halheavyduty]

Hey Gerard. I had similar thoughts myself. The mess isn’t really a problem as the lathe is fully enclosed. It’s just not worth installing through coolant on a bar like this. We can use the flood coolant method pretty successfully. In the next video you’ll see how we put through coolant in the big bar (the beast) It’s a metal removal tool, so def needed full plumbing

[@RutherfordRyan1]

Matt, Could you contrive a spider…Collar behind the cutting head with bearings that then conforms to the new surface that advances into the tube…maybe a helix to auger swarf or retract for swarf removal

[@halheavyduty]

I don’t think so. I imagine it’d cause a bunch of issues. My plan (if the hydra could t handle it) was to send in the beast to do the dirty work. Lucky it held up.

[@FrenziedFruitcake]

I think some kind of split sleeve clamp for the bars would work much better than the little grub screws. Then you can gronk down on some M16 or M20 capscrews

[@halheavyduty]

Looking in hindsight you’re probably right. I seems to do the job (so far)… but like so many things around here you just make stuff on the fly… and then the job expands. It was originally intended as a drill holder 🤣

[@RutherfordRyan1]

Agree with that point…grub screws look a bit twee in context…. Mark II will have more heft….?

[@halheavyduty]

100% First time I’ve built one of these. If I do another one there will definitely be upgrades

[@ShainAndrews]

Was thinking about this project last night. Wondering how it was coming along.

[@halheavyduty]

Went off without a hitch that time! Thankfully ✌️👊

[@sweetpeaz61]

Hi Matt, Doing some great work there, thats a good set up or the boring bars too. Love seeing the Alpha in action 🙂

[@halheavyduty]

Cheers mate! I bloody love the Alphas. For what we do, those two lathes are worth their weight in gold.

[@nialltm1991]

Nice work 👏 a little copper pipe bent around the boring bar would make it easier to get coolant on the insert.

[@halheavyduty]

👊👍

[@ypaulbrown]

always great Matt from HAL Heavy duty .........love the channel.....wish I was there, Paul from the other 'Sunshine State' , Cape Canaveral Florida USA

[@halheavyduty]

Cheers brother! You’ve been here from the very start. Appreciate you mate ✌️

[@jimsvideos7201]

Grim job getting through that first pass, but look on the bright side - no stringy chips! 😅

[@halheavyduty]

The sound was hypnotic while it was running. Not gonna lie…

[@ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00]

There’s definitely a perceptible deflection in the bar with that interrupted cut. Probably not entirely avoidable.

[@halheavyduty]

It was pretty bouncy on that first cut 💯

[@ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00]

@@halheavyduty Well, it was a job well done, for sure.

[@halheavyduty]

💯👊

[@troyam6607]

💪💪 what a Weapon. so's the boring bar! 😂 have you thought about making another bar with a bunch of broken carbide shanks down the guts with a grub at the end or even a hollow with grease for rigidity?

[@halheavyduty]

Haven’t looked into it yet. After seeing how the beast performed today, I think I’ve pretty much nailed the formula for making big rigid bars. It’s a bloody metal MONSTER

[@robertpeters9438]

Have you ever considered a long conical boring bar and boring rough to size in stages to have clearance to go deeper? That would allow a stiffer boring bar.

[@halheavyduty]

It needs to be straight so it can get down the holes. I see where you’re coming from though. We are doing that to upgrade the shanks on the new drill to replace the Kraken. That thing was a nightmare 🤣

[@ianlangley987]

Well done Matt, the finish bar and associated bits worked great. Your shop would be a first class shop for apprentices to learn fitting and turning as your work is so diversified and one needs to think outside the square. Not unlike the shop I leaned F & T back in the sixties in ship work. You just couldn't buy some of the stuff required to do the job. Cheers and looking forward to your next video. Ian

[@halheavyduty]

Thanks Ian! We have some great young guys working here and I’ve got no doubt they’ll be fantastic tradesmen in the future.

[@teddytavernier7522]

In that first operation you should consider investing in a CNMG odd side tool holder. I believe the designation is MCRN. Lets use use the obtuse side of the insert for turning operations. Just cant go up to a shoulder or face with it because of the negative lead angle, but it gives a very durable edge, on an otherwise unused corner. Save the 80* corners for turning to shoulders.

[@halheavyduty]

Yeah, agreed 100% It’s just a bar for doing odd jobs and the old Kenna LH ext tool older just happened to be sitting in a drawer. We built a specific CNMG bar for hogging. It’ll be up in a video this week. Thanks for the input mate! Glad someone picked that up 👊✌️

[@teddytavernier7522]

Just finished the video, great work! Super Excited to see the next video. Not sure if you saw my comments on previous videos, but we should put together some sort of discord server or similar for sharing info on this type of work. Particularly the core drilling/ trepanning tool design work I would love to pool our knowledge on.

[@halheavyduty]

I saw that. Def looking into it right now. It’s a great idea that I think we’d all benefit from greatly! Thank you 👊

[@wallbawden5511]

F. Me nice depth of cut there minimal definition end result a hose clamp now that's a clamp Is this the biggest one you have made should last a life time Nice work Can't weight for the next run of the 2 bigger bars Cheers mate from up North

[@halheavyduty]

Cheers brother! Yep, def the largest (and strangest) hose clamp I’ve ever machined. You’re gonna love the next video.

[@John-fj3qw]

challenging work piece, you did a good job. as a retired turner myself in the UK i was wondering why you don't shield the front of the steady with a light metal guard to stop swarf from getting under the rollers, its just a thing we always did, nothing worse than swarf digging into a finished diameter. even plywood or Perspex does the job. 👍

[@halheavyduty]

Thank you good sir. Was a good challenge! If you check out some of the other videos, I usually have a steady shield. Nothing worse than swarf hitting the bearings at high speed! I left it off for this job as we were well inside the bore before machining started. Thanks for commenting mate. Much appreciated. And please keep any tips coming - especially if you see me do things you think could be improved. Zero ego on the job. Always keen to learn 💯

[@John-fj3qw]

Thanks for the reply, I do intend to watch all your excellent videos, you know you never stop learning on the job till the day you retire. Best wishes to you all down under.

[@halheavyduty]

Thank you my friend. Sending very warm wishes from other side of the pond 🙏

[@user-uw8bm1jv8k]

The Watervliet Arsenal, in upstate New York, is the closest thing I've seen to what you guys have going on. They build artillery and tank guns.

[@halheavyduty]

Good to know! The little tool holder kinda looks like a battle tank ✌️🤣

[@dazinull]

Great video mate a pleasure to watch

[@halheavyduty]

Cheers mate. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the kind feedback. Appreciate it.

[@willgallatin2802]

Impressive shop made tools. I still wonder why no through coolant on them with those metal removal rates though.

[@halheavyduty]

The Beast has full through coolant. You’ll see it next week. An absolute WEAPON

[@nickvinten7803]

Cracking piece of work as usual 👌 The noise on the first cut made my teeth hurt listening as the tool chewed its way through the initial eclipse and weld area 😮

[@halheavyduty]

Chewed is a very accurate description 🤣 Thanks for the kind feedback brother 👊

[@nickvinten7803]

@@halheavyduty bloody productive tixt, should have read 'initial ellipse' 😵‍💫

[@halheavyduty]

🤣🤣💯👊

[@richardcorwin1828]

Sitting here watching in fascination Matt but I can imagine how much butt clenching YOU went through cuz now my chair has a permanent crease in it. Thank you sir!

[@halheavyduty]

Haha. Cheers Richard. Maaaate. Yesterday I finally ran the Kraken into a 1000lb billet. White. Knuckle. Tight. That video is gonna be wild.

[@richardcorwin1828]

@@halheavyduty Can't wait until I see it in action. Have a better week my friend.

[@halheavyduty]

👊👍

[@theoldstationhand]

Good one Matt, been wondering how you guys are going to get the cuttings to the surface, especially from those depths. Cheers

[@halheavyduty]

High pressure air gets it all to the surface. Amazing how it all works!

[@theoldstationhand]

@@halheavyduty and lots of CFM

[@halheavyduty]

💯

[@markostruszka1845]

Could have used that for a sound effect in the movie Contact

[@halheavyduty]

🤣🤣🤣💯

[@theessexhunter1305]

If it was easy then they all would be doing the work...Well done

[@halheavyduty]

👊💯 Cheers mate

[@myronnisiewicz5448]

That is one hell of a hose clamp! What type of material did you use for the new bar?

[@halheavyduty]

The bars are made from 4140 steel.

[@a-fl-man640]

so how did you get into being a machinist? serious chips there, glad i don't have to clean them up.

[@halheavyduty]

It honestly happened by accident. My grandfather Hal was a machinist but I never showed any interest. I actually didn’t begin machining until much later in life. I returned to the family business and took up boilermaking. Short story - all the machinist left in a space of a few weeks and I was asked to take it on. Was a very very steep learning curve. I just fell in love with it. I now see why Grandad was always happiest behind a lathe.

[@Gnarfendorf]

Youre gonna need a bigger bar... :D But seriously, its an impressive tool

[@halheavyduty]

If only you knew what just came across my desk 🤣 We’re gonna need a bigger beast 😬

[@Gnarfendorf]

@@halheavyduty Hell yeah, cant wait to see that. 👍

[@halheavyduty]

Drafting it up now. I think this thing is gonna be 1m long and weigh about twice the beast. Massive drill sub about to get machined and even the beast can’t reach. Faaaaark it’s gonna be a weapon

[@medp5636]

METAL TIME!!!

[@halheavyduty]

💯👊

[@dwjr5129]

I’m wondering what this massive drill setup is drilling for? Bridge pilings?

[@halheavyduty]

Underground mine ventilation & rescue shafts

[@dwjr5129]

@@halheavyduty Ah, makes sense. Also takes on a level of importance for you guys, no doubt.

[@halheavyduty]

It’s the biggest single project the company has committed to tackling in 60 years. It’s stretched everything to new levels and has been a fantastic challenge for the whole team. It’s dream work really. I bloody love it

[@michaelschroeder6014]

That sound reminds me of the signal in the movie “Contact” with Jodi Foster.

[@halheavyduty]

It totally does. 💯

[@andrewguy1249]

So good to watch

[@halheavyduty]

Cheers my friend! Heads up… you’re gonna love the next one when we run the shop made crazy Kraken drill. Spoiler: def buying a better drill 🤣

[@andrewdalgarno5322]

Instead of rolling the 4140 into a tight bend to make the clamp, have you tried trepanning out of solid? Probably more $$ though, unless you have a use for the slug that comes out of the middle....

[@peterfitzpatrick7032]

Heavy-wall tubing ?... 🤔

[@halheavyduty]

We definitely use trepanning, but only on certain parts. There’s a video on the channel about it. Great tool, but unfortunately we can’t always use it.

[@shopshop144]

no need to reply, but all the cuttings from your 3M drill are going through that 'small' of a hose? I look forward to seeing all the pieces working together!

[@halheavyduty]

Correct. It all flies up the hose. It comes out in a massive jet of material. Crazy to watch. I’ll definitely be catching it in action once they start drilling.

[@KSMechanicalEngineering]

Giant boring bar are the best in action

[@halheavyduty]

Big fan. Love running them

[@gulshankapoor8924]

WOW the great job done by HYDRA bar, fantastic setting and perfect cut, but at 12 minutes after the thak thak could not understand, please clear this point if possible.

[@halheavyduty]

Cheers mate! Not sure what happened at the 12 min mark. Was the audio bad or I just didn’t explain what wa going on particularly well?

[@ColinLennard]

The coolant: I take it that it goes into a tank. From there, is that the end or is it filtered & reused? If so is there a time limit to how long it can be used? Matt, I think that I am in your 2nd best fan group (I'd like to be in the best group, but there must be a lot of followers that are better than I am). I am hopping that if/should I be in a poison to be able to watch (follow) for 5 years is there any chance of you giving me an apprenticeship? I'm good at making tea!

[@halheavyduty]

The coolant is recycled into a 200L tank on the lathe and just keeps being reused. It doesn’t go off. What happens is it gradually gets taken out on the metal shavings bit by bit and the level eventually drops and just gets topped up. Some coolants go off. Ours doesn’t (thank god)

[@flikflak24]

i personally prefer useing a high speed steel insert ( yes you can get insert's in hss as well ) for my first pass when its bad interupted cuts with welds since they are not as hard with more give to them so they can easiler take the hard beat/shock from the interupted cut then a carbide insert can 8:45 i already told ya m8. angle grind a slit down the side of it and brace a copper tube in that slit with the end of it somewhat pointed to where the insert will be around and a quick release in the other end of the copper tube

[@halheavyduty]

I was 50/50 on this one for HSS, but opted for the fat CNMG insert. It held up fine, but I agree with you. Def prefer HSS on most nightmare cutting conditions. Wasn’t too worried about coolant on this particular bar. Took your idea on board when we built the beast. We used hydraulic line and permanently plumbed that bad boy. Works brilliantly. Thank you

[@flikflak24]

@@halheavyduty your welcome m8. btw hope to soon the external zigzagging roughing which i told/gave a example of ( i do have personal experince with it working wounder's ( whice is also why i developed/came up with that roughing strategy. the idea on why do to it in the first place came from a old guy that have done machining for most of his life )

[@halheavyduty]

Interesting. I like it. Let me know how it goes 👊

[@flikflak24]

@@halheavyduty it worked perfectly. and thats why i send you the sample code in former comment on a former video

[@halheavyduty]

Cheers brother

[@andybtec]

Could you not attach a pipe to the top of the bar to supply coolant straight to tool?

[@halheavyduty]

We could have, but it wasn’t necessary in this case. Flooding the part with coolant was enough. I wasn’t running the inserts particularly hard, just dealing with shitty conditions. The beast is fully plumbed. As a metal removal hogging tool it absolutely needs it.

[@noodles7011]

Our Steady bearings shit themselves today Drilling a 65mm U drill @250 mm deep @ 850 rpm. The bearings wernt the only thing that shit themselves I almost wore a nappy for the rest of the day.

[@halheavyduty]

I have nightmares about this. Fark. I feel you 100% brother 🤣🤣

[@noodles7011]

@@halheavyduty lucky I was at the machine, I hit the E stop. The part had a gouge in the bore and a few bumps where the steady was. Hopefully the bore cleans up. Not to much damage. Just very scary.

[@halheavyduty]

I can bloody imagine. Do you have any rules or guidelines you follow for RPM with a steady? I tend to slow things down… but mostly because I’ve never been formally shown any guidelines. I’ve never run one at 850 RPM that’s for sure. I do think I need to run these parts faster.

[@Cancun771]

Bloody hell.

[@halheavyduty]

I know right

[@Wyllie38]

🎶 The first cut is the deepest …. And the scabbiest … and the most likely to suck 😂

[@halheavyduty]

Never a truer statement 💯👊

[@timelessengineering]

Gday Matt, I often wonder if a boring bar with a body diameter larger than the diameter that is clamped has the ability of the larger diameter or is it limited to only the clamping diameter. What are your thoughts? Or what did you experience?

[@halheavyduty]

We ran “the hydra” which was an 85mm bar and it did deflect on heavy cuts. The shank is 80mm The beast however didn’t budge a bit. It was 95mm with the same 80mm shank. I think most rigidity comes from the bar diameter as long as it’s clamped properly and butted up hard to a face. Ideally the bar wouldn’t have a reduced shank, but there was no option here - and I didn’t want to create another tool holder for the big bar.

[@timelessengineering]

@halheavyduty understandable sometimes we have to make do. Thanks for your reply Matt keep up the great work I look forward to it each week.

[@halheavyduty]

Cheers mate! And thanks for the kind feedback. Much appreciated. Really enjoying making the vids each week. Crazy jobs keep coming in the door, so content just kind of creates itself weekly 🤣

[@peterhall6656]

Nice.

[@halheavyduty]

👊👍

[@beriklelmut1842]

How bad are elliptical cuts and interrupted cuts for boring since I never had those conditions also about those cnmg inserts what material are there specially for or how big they are because they look so big since I only use tiny dcmt inserts or a tiny wnmg insert tool also seeing you make sawtooth threads is cool since that’s what 2 of our milling machines use to pull the taper from the tool into the machine taper

[@halheavyduty]

Elliptical parts like this (odd shapes in general) are difficult to- mostly because the tip engages then disengages and it really increases the chance of insert damage. Combine that with welds & further interruptions and it’s nightmare material. It’s why I chose the big thick CNMG insert. Those things are beyond tough for shitty conditions.

[@beriklelmut1842]

@@halheavyduty makes sense my shitiest cuts were a interrupted cut in tool steel the insert couldn’t hold up long till it was dull and not properly cutting

[@halheavyduty]

💯

[@jayhammersley9534]

how come you welded the KM head on instead of buying a 50mm KM back end, so you could change the heads? I've made 10+ 150mm Dia boring bars, all using the KM back ends

[@halheavyduty]

I’d love to see photos of the bars if you have any? That’s bloody massive. What kind of work do you do mate? Yeah, the reason was simply because the original head on Godzilla was already welded when we removed it for the beast… so it wasn’t useable as an interchangeable tool. Def going to build a multi use big bar in the future though.

[@jayhammersley9534]

@@halheavyduty ah fair enough man, mostly use the big bars for oil and gas stuff, just over 2 meters of overhang I can get out of the nice ones. But yeah have you got somewhere I can send the photos to? Might give you some nice ideas for some future builds like. Also might be worth looking into how Sandvik’s silent bars work, might be able to integrate some of their features.

[@jayhammersley9534]

@@halheavyduty forgot to mention on my comment above, have you tried sticking a lifting mag on the back of your bar whilst you’re cutting? I’m sure you’ve seen the classic trick of sticking a magnet on a boring bar to change the frequency of the resonance. Seems to help a lot more with the bigger bars in my experience.

[@halheavyduty]

Yeah brother, that'd be awesome if you could. I'm always up for new ideas and learning new / better ways to set stuff up. [e-mail] Thanks a million!

[@clayz1]

That would be me

[@halheavyduty]

🤣👊

[@onemoredeadman]

Duck next time

[@halheavyduty]

🤣

[@reuvengruber7139]

Love your channel But The introduction music is terrible

[@halheavyduty]

Any suggestions??

[@risecre]

👋👏🇦🇷

[@halheavyduty]

🫡👊💯