Making a MONSTER Boring Bar (and then FIXING it...)

In this week's video we're showing the full build of our most recent XL boring bar "TINY". We needed to create this big guy to build the largest crossover drill sub we've ever machined. Measuring a total length of around 3 feet long (900+mm) and a workable length of 2 feet (625mm)... this is by far the biggest tool in the shop.

We'll be eccentrically machining a tapered bore to snugly fit a Kennametal KM80 head, which will be welded on. We chose not to make it interchangeable simply because it's only ever going to be used as a metal hogging bar.

Once it's machined, we're milling a slot on the outside to run through coolant. We chose to do this for a few reasons, but mostly because the lathes are all booked solid, and it's a very time sensitive project. It worked well on our last big bar (The Beast)... and doesn't really affect the rigidity of the bar, as the top to bottom cross-sectional thickness remains unaltered.

It was a fun little project...

And a makes a great addition to the growing arsenal of heavy duty tools in the shop.

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, fixing all the stuff drillers break, and creating all the custom gear they need to get the job done!

We run three CNC's, manual repair lathes, a few mills and a big green Megabore Lathe we call "THE HULK"... and are constantly having to make weird and wonderful tools for odd (usually oversize) jobs.

We're a little shop that takes on big projects, and the latest is our MEGADRILL project where we're manufacturing a 3.0m (10 foot!) drill bit that'll weigh upward of 20 tonnes and we're getting ready to send it 250m (800+ feet) deep.

Here's the latest on the project!
The Megadrill Project    • The Megadrill Project (A 3m Drill bit...  
The Drive Sub    • Big Rig Drive Sub | Megabore Lathe | ...  
Mega Drill Rods
   • Mega Drill Rods Getting Torqued Up To...  

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