These numbers may or may not be exact as I am working from memory but I wanted to post this question for thought before heading out to the doctor's office for some work on me this morning.

A job that has to be done hundreds of times a year is turning 1-1/4" of one end of a 1"-5 acme threaded rod down to 3/4" inch. A square shoulder at the start of the acme thread and a small chamfer on the end of the shaft completes the job. Currently a standard carbide insert and tool holder are used to make an interrupted cut until the threads are removed and then the same tool is used to make the finish cuts. Trying to hold production shop times is making heavy work for the 16x60 lathe being used and times still aren't satisfactory.

I believe I can speed up the work somewhat by making more lighter cuts at higher speeds but I also keep thinking about some change of tooling to change the intermittent cut into a continuous cut. Grinding isn't an option and space and lack of enough justification for purchasing a bigger lathe prevent just throwing more size and horsepower at the problem. Subbing it out hasn't proven feasible either so I am left with a change in cutting speed and depth or a tooling change to hopefully lighten the load on the machine and increase the speed of this job. Any thoughts on tooling?

Thanks,
Hu