Bicycle Mechanics - Keep dulling bottom bracket facing tool!

Hey Folks, so I have myself in a quandary and my boss is almost certain to get angry at me. I just picked up a new cromo steel frame and needed to face the bottom bracket shell in order to install a serviceable bottom bracket. Simple enough. I busted out the old facing tool (Park BTS-1), read the instructions, threaded it into the bike and started turning in a clockwise direction, careful to never turn it in a counter clockwise direction. I used plenty of park CF-2 cutting fluid. It took off material for the first few turns, the stopped doing anything. I added more pressure to the tool, but nothing. I pulled it off, and sure enough, you can see a tiny burr on the tool where it is now dull. In an epic move of dumbassery, I used the spare facing blade to try again, and after a few turns dulled it as well. Now I have to ship them off to get sharpened, and we don't have facing tools for a few days.

Any idea what the heck I did wrong? I didn't use excessive force on the tool and didn't turn it counter clockwise. The only thing that I can think of is that the cutter guides were just slightly loose in the threads of the BB shell. Any input would be great.

-L

possible the BB is titanium or stainless steel? (then again i don't even know for sure that either is harder than chromoly)

could the cutting blades be made for aluminum only?

i'm just guessing here...

When I face a bb shell, I keep in mind that it probably won't be necessary to remove a lot of material, so I just work carefully and don't try to take deep bites as I rotate the tool. Other than that, as long as you have set the tool up properly, there's not much to it. Use cutting oil of course, which you say you did.

Keep in mind, the blades do become dull eventually, and a hard frame material such as steel will dull them faster. I don't know what else to tell you; I mean, if you use the cutting tool enough, it's going to need sharpening, and eventually replacing, at some point. Sounds like you had a couple of cutters that were nearly ready for sharpening when you started.

Or the cutters were not a good grade of steel or properly heat treated, or both. Poor quality steel cutters will not last cutting hard steel no matter how careful you are. Could have been a cheap import made to look like it was well made. Some industries are plagued with poor quality fasteners being imported that are marked as though they are high strength / quality parts.

Tom

It's a park cutter, so pretty good quality. I must have just gotten to zesty, and applied to much pressure. That is all that I can think.

chromed frame?

Make sure the shell isn't Ti/Stainless/Chromed. Otherwise you're ****ed.

What do you use for those frames then? diamonds or there is special cutters for them?

What do you use for those frames then? diamonds or there is special cutters for them?

How do you face a full CF shell?

You don't.

You hope to hell the manufacturer did it right.

the facing tool, even when used correctly, is very prone to losing its edge.

personally, I think a the cutting tool is the printer ink of tools. Wears out real fast and costs a lot to have it serviced.
I'm sure a disposable grinding disc type of tool would be much better and cheaper than the current facing tool.