mikesworkshop

Rotary Broaching - the easy way.

Rotary broaching is a very useful way of producing hexagonal or

other polygonal holes in metal. It can also be used to to produce
internal splines and other pro!les. It is especially useful for
producing such pro!les in short blind holes.

Commercial rotary broaching equipment is very expensive.

Typically this can cost several hundred pounds. Furthermore, the
shaped tools are all very expensive. A number of designs for
rotary broaching tools have been published in magazines and on
internet sources. These are tailstock mounted, quite complex
and di"cult to make.

The present project was embarked upon to develop a simple

method of rotary broaching. The tool is very simple and has only
two main parts. It is mounted on the cross slide. In addition, the
tool is designed in such a way that it facilitates making the cutter.
It uses the principle of using a hardened steel ball as a thrust
bearing as in the Edgar Westbury rotating centre.

The principle of rotary broaching.

The principle of rotary broaching is quite straighforward. A hole

is drilled in the workpiece with a diameter of slightly more than
the minimum cross section diameter of the shape to be
broached. With the workpiece rotating under power a shaped
cutter that can freely rotate is brought up to the hole at a slight
angle, typically around one degree, and it is pressed into the
hole. The rotating workpiece causes the cutter to revolve and,
because of the slight angle, the corners of the cutter come into
contact in turn, each taking a peck as it does so. After one
revolution the cutter has shaved a little metal from the hole, and
as the tool is fed into the hole during subsequent revolutions,
the hole is gradually broached to the shape of the cutter until
the required depth is reached. In order to make any progress the
cutter needs to have a draft angle slightly more than the
inclination of the tool so that it does not jam. Typically this angle
is around two degrees.

The tool.
The tool consist of two main components: the toolpost block and
the cutter.

The toolpost block is designed to !t onto my toolpost. It is a

block of steel 25 x 50 x 50 mm cut from a length of 25 x 50 mm
bar. This was bored out with a 25 mm hole to !t over the
toolpost. At right angles to the toolpost bore a 10 mm hole is
drilled as shown on the front face of the block in the photo. A
hole is also drilled and tapped M6 to accommodate the brass
hex head screw. This screw can be used to lock a cutter blank in
the 10 mm hole while it is being milled to shape (in use the
tool is left free to rotate). Also shown in the photo is an M5 cross
head screw. This passes right through the block and it is used to
adjust the height of the tool on the tool post. Not obvious in the
photo is that the block is not square. The front and back faces of
the block are parallel but the sides are not. The left hand side of
the block is angled at about one degree from the axis of the 10
mm hole and the right hand side is angled at about two degrees
from the hole axis as shown in the following drawing.

The one degree angled face is used for setting up the tool
for broaching and the two degree angled face is used for actually
making the cutter. Note the small 2 mm hole in the end of the 10
mm bore. This is to allow grease to escape when the tool is in
use.

Note that my toolpost incorporates an expanding arrangement

to grip the toolholder blocks. Those with more conventional
posts will need to devise their own methods for securing the
rotary broach toolholder. One approach might be a block that
bolts directly down on the cross slide, the 10 mm hole in it
having been made with a drill held in the lathe chuck to ensure
that it is on centre height.

The cutter.

The cutter is made from a 65mm length of 10 mm diameter

silver steel (drill rod in the USA). This should freely rotate in the
10 mm drilled hole in the toolpost block.

The length of silver steel is chucked in the lathe and faced. It is

then centre drilled with a normal 60 degree centre drill such that
a 6 mm hardened steel ball protrudes about half its diameter as
shown in the photo.

The piece is turned around in the chuck and the other end faced.
It is then centre drilled. A normal drill is then used to make a 118
degree depression in the end of the piece. The outside is then
turned down to slightly greater than the maximum cross section
diameter of the required pro!le. It has been turned down
to 6 mm in the photo since the required cutter is for a 5 mm
hexagonal hole.

The prepared rod is then inserted in the toolpost block with the
ball attached to the 60 degree conical hole using grease. An
indexing ring is placed over the protruding part of the cutter as
shown in the header photo, and then secured to the cutter with
a grub screw. The indexing ring is simply an 8 mm wide collar,
cross drilled and tapped for a 4 mm grub screw. The indexing
ring is scribed at 60 degree intervals on the outside edge. The
cutter is turned to line up one of the lines on the indexing ring
with the !ducial mark on the block (see header photo) and then
locked in the block with the brass screw. Set the block up in the
milling vice lying on the two degree face and then using an end
mill make a #at on the cutter. Loosen the brass clamp bolt and
turn the cutter through 60 degrees using the indexing ring and
relock in this position. Now mill the next #at. Repeat this
operation until six #ats have been milled. Check the cutter
dimensions across the #ats and readjust the mill z axis to give
the !nal cutter dimensions and repeat the milling operations.

After milling the cutter should look like this. It should have an
across the #ats dimension of 5 mm at the tip with a two degree
taper on each face becoming narrower the towards the base of
the cutter.

The cutter is now ready for hardening and tempering. To harden

the cutter warm it up with a torch and then dip in powdered
soap until the soap adheres. Then heat it with a torch to bright
red heat and quench in cold water. The soap limits oxidation and
decarburisation of the steel. After quenching clean up the cutter
shaft using very !ne abrasive paper and polish the #ats with a
!ne abrasive stone. Now heat the cutter gently with the torch
until the #ats are light straw and then re-quench. Clean the
cutter shaft again with !ne abrasive.
The cutter is now ready to use.

Grease the shaft of the cutter and the conical depression. Put
the ball in place. Put a little grease in the 10 mm hole in the
block and then push the cutter into the hole. Check that it
rotates freely. The brass lock screw should be loose when
broaching but it is best left in place to prevent ingress of dirt etc.
Chuck a centre in the lathe chuck and place the broaching tool
on the toolpost. Adjust the height of the cutter to centre it on the
chucked centre. Remove the chucked centre and replace it with a
piece of round bar. Line up the one degree edge of the block
against the round bar. This sets the cutter at the correct angle.
The broach is now set up and ready to use.

Chuck the work to be broached. Centre drill a small dimple and

drill a hole to the minimum cross section diameter and to a
depth greater than the required broached length. Wind the cross
slide in to centre the broach over the hole, start the lathe at a
fairly slow speed, lubricate the hole and the cutter, and then use
the carriage handle to force the broach into the hole. It should
go in fairly easily. If it is di"cult then the hole size is probably too
small. In this case withdraw the cutter and enlarge the hole
slightly and try again. When the required broaching depth is
attained, stop the lathe, and withdraw the carriage until the
cutter is out of the toolpost block, taking care not to lose the ball.
The cutter can then be "wiggled" out of the workpiece.

The photo below shows the set up for broaching:

This shows the result of rotary broaching a piece of 10 mm steel

with a 5 mm AF hexagonal cutter. The material shaved from the
hole is the compacted matter at the bottom of the hole.

The tool is not limited to hexagonal shapes. With a di$erent

indexing ring other polygonal shapes can be easily made.
Indeed other pro!le cutters, e.g. !ne splines could be made.

As the cutter size increases then the force required to broach the
hole increases. One way to assist this process is to use the
tailstock to push the carriage forward. The insertion force is very
dependent on the hole size. Slightly too small a hole will give a
very high insertion force. It is much easier if the hole is slightly
too large. Making a conical lead-in to the hole by using a
countersink bit makes it easier to align the tool with the hole.
The lead-in can be machined away afterwards if necessary.

My thanks to Andrew Franks for making some helpful

suggestions and advice regarding the text.

Improved cutter holder

The design presented above works very well but each cutter is a
large piece of silver steel. A new cutter holder has been designed
to hold a much smaller cutter.

The new cutter holder is made from one piece of 25 mm bar. It

was machined down to 10 mm for most of its length as shown to
!t in the bore of the toolpost block. The rear end of the 10 mm
shaft is drilled with a BS4 centre drill for the ball. The wide end is
drilled out to 6 mm for a depth of 14 mm for the cutter which is
held by an M4 grubscrew. The large end was divided to give six
equally spaced graduations for indexing.

This whole unit replaces the cutter in the original design.

The new cutters are made from 6 mm diameter silver steel and
they are 24 mm long. A #at is milled on the shaft of the cutter as
shown in the photo. This #at is for the grubscrew to lock the tool
in the holder and prevent any rotation during milling of the
cutter pro!le.
After pro!ling the cutter is hardened and tempered as before.

The new cutter holder works very well and is much more
economical with expensive silver steel.

Modi!cation for tool withdrawal under

power.

The tool as !rst designed broaches very well. However, after

broaching the cutter had to be manually removed from the
workpiece by wiggling and pulling. The tool has now been
modifed to enable the cutter to be withdrawn whilst the cutter is
rotating. This makes removal of the cutter much easier.

The toolpost block has been modi!ed by adding an additional

brass screw. This is visible below the large brass hexagon
lock screw at the top of the photo.
The block was drilled 4 mm for the screw and then opened out
for 6 mm to 4.3 mm and this portion tapped M5.

The cutter holder shaft has been modi!ed. A groove 1 mm deep

and 5 mm wide has been turned about 8 mm from the end.
The section of the cutter holder on the right hand side has been
reduced in diameter from 25 mm down to 20 mm diameter and
re scribed with six equally spaced graduations. The reason for
this is that the cutter holder will be captive in the block after the
modi!cation and the 25 mm diameter would have prevented the
1 degree edge of the block from being lined up with the lathe
axis.

The M5 brass screw is turned down to 4 mm at the end. When

this is screwed into the toolpost block it protrudes into the
spindle bore and engages with the groove in the cutter holder
shaft. The protruding length is adjusted by !ling so that the it
engages with the groove but does not bear on and lock the shaft
when the screw is tightened down.

Video of the tool in action.

To watch a video of the tool in action click here.

Rotary broaching on the mill.

Rotary broaching can be very simply carried out on the mill once
the cutters have been made as shown here.

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