I work for a tube forming company, and I make the wheels that the tubes get bent around. We got a TL-1 with a 3 jaw chuck a couple months ago, and I am still working out some issues. I started using a .315" carbide grooving insert to, for example, cut a .75" wide groove .25" deep. I have been having trouble getting the insert to cut smoothly without squealing or jamming up the lathe. I have had best results (still crappy results) with the SFM at 58 for 1.75" round stock at 0.0025" per rev. It still causes vibrations that don't sound or feel good to me, and leaves a rather poor finish. But the biggest problem is that it literally pulls the round stock out of the vise in the Z axis. To clarify, if I face of the round stock, skip the grooving process, and part of the piece, I get exactly the length I programmed. But if I run the grooving process, it lengthens the piece by up to .015"!

I suspect that my feeds and surface speed settings are all wrong. But with me being the only person in the company that knows anything about the lathe, and having just over 6 months CNC experience, I'm going by trial and error. So far lots of error. I also suspect that the TL-1 just doesnt have power/rigidity/etc. that it takes to properly cut with a grooving insert of that size. Can anyone help me before I strap a pack of C4 to the lathe?

Thanks,

David