I picked up some brake lathe tips in a box of stuff from an auction and I'm not sure what I've got. Is there a way to find out what they are?

There are a couple of ways to determine what tips you have. I'm assuming since you got these at an auction that they're unlabeled and they may or may not fit your brake lathe. In most cases, knowing which brake lathe (make and model) you have is all we'll need to get you the right tip. However, since you don't have this information, we'd need to know the following:

1. Tip height from the flat to the point. (Fig. A)
2. Tip thickness (Fig. B)
3. Hole ID (if the tips have holes) (Fig. C)
4. Tip rake. Positive or negative?

Negative Rake Tips have flat sides so you will have six cutting edges on a triangular tip. These tips are recommended when cutting cast iron and on a rigid setup.

Positive Rake Tips have angled sides giving you three cutting edges on a triangular tip. Positive rake tips are recommended when cutting steel (hard spots in flywheels) and on a machine or setup that lacks rigidity.

With this information, we can usually match your tips to what we have in stock. If we don't have that particular one in stock and you need more, we should be able to special order it for you, however you may need to purchase a minimum quantity.

Another way to determine which tips you have is to open our catalog to page 2 and try to match your tips to the pictures on the page. The printed version of the catalog shows all of our stock tips actual size. Call Goodtool at 1-800-880-7121 or email us to receive a copy of the 2010 catalog.

Find more technical tips in the Goodtool Technical Library.