Anybody here machine 17-4ph HH-1150?

Cuts like butter.

I've yet to find anything that cuts like butter other than ice cream, crisco, or ... Well, umentionables.

:)

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022

01.908.542.0244 Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: Spindle Drills: Tapping: Site: V8013-R

Magnesium. Maybe like frozen butter. Mama mia, it's a dream.

However, when I worked in a shop in Princeton, I did start two small fires with it. It's the reason I acquired little milling experience on that job. People wanted to leave the building when I got near the mills. d8-)

Thanks for the reply. It's what I was thinking and hoping. I'll write the programs now with higher SFPM>

Eric

snipped-for-privacy@whidbey.com wrote in rec.crafts.metalworking on Mon, 2 May 2011 18:40:16 +0000 (UTC):

I've turned a fair bit on a swiss lathe. It is gummy, and the chips don't like to break. It will work harden if you look at it funny. Feed at .0015"/rev MINIMUM. Don't get it hot, keep coolant on the cut, don't tickle it. Get into the cut and keep cutting. Lower speed(rpm) higher feed(ipr). I don't know what SFM I run it at, but I'm usually working with .250" to .625" stock and start off a 1500 RPM. If you find the right conditions, your drills and other tools will last as long as if you were cutting 303ss or 304ss.

A light clean up pass(.010") will give a good finish.

I question our experience if you find a comparison between 303 and 304. They clearly do NOT machine the same way. 304 can be a real PITA. It is not a free machining stainless, while 303 is. Common free machining 303 is

303S, but in my experience, 303Se has the edge. Neither of them compare to 416, however. It's very nice to machine.

H1150 won't machine like butter, but it does machine quite well. It's condition H900 that is troublesome. So long as the cutting edge remains sharp, it cuts cleanly, with a shine. With tip failure, it commonly cuts with whiskers.

Harold

Agreed--eventually your cutters will dull, but pretty sure I recall having pulled blue chips at a rate of about 3 cubic inches per minute for several hours per cutter--on a bridgeport using a 3/4in dia m42 endmill.

Be careful when turning though, esp on a manual machine--the chips are usually long and quite stringy and very sharp and they will cut you quite badly given the slightest provocation oftentimes requiring stitches even.

Harold & Susan Vordos wrote in rec.crafts.metalworking on Tue, 03 May 2011 06:02:57 GMT:

I didn't intend to imply that they similar to machine.

Yes, I know the difference between 304 and 303. I But when you get the right speeds and feeds for each one, your tools will last much longer.

If you are only making a few parts you might not notice. But when you make thousands, and keep notes of when you have to change inserts, you can home in on the best speed and feed rate for each alloy and job, and the tool life goes up quite a bit. And you have the added benefit of being able to change out the insert before it really fails.

What I was trying to get across is that 17-4ph isn't any more of a mystery to machine than 304(tough) or 303(easy). You just need to know the right speeds and feeds for the cutting conditions.

PrecisionmachinisT wrote in rec.crafts.metalworking on Tue, 3 May 2011 10:54:00 -0700:

And how! I have to put chips from my machines into a spinner to recover the cutting oil, and I have to be very careful when dumping out the spinner basket. One small thread around your finger could skin you to the bone.

Yep! I agree. Well stated.

Harold