anyone want a large paperweight?

304 stainless is tricky in that it will work harden, you will have to have sharp ( NEW ) cutting tools running at slow sfpm with flood coolant. You will need to keep the cutting pressure constant or run the risk of work hardenening, use a automatic feed if you have one. We slice thru 304 3" bar stock with a cold saw in about 5 minutes, the saw runs at 43 rpm with a 10" HSS blade and we use high sulphur cutting oil for lubricant ( Harveys #5 cutting oil ).

Best Regards Tom.

(Snip)

Can you anneal it in an oven and try again?

--Winston

..at what temp? I don't really have a furnace yet (although I am working on one...yet another project..) so I think the answer right now is no...but your question made me think of something I forgot to mention earlier: One of the ends is painted blue. Could this stuff be cold-rolled or something? Maybe that's why it's so %(^&$(* hard.

Todd

I found a metal rod laying in my pasture once, it was 2" in diameter and

15 or so feet long. It had no rust or corrosion. Finally after a year or two after I found it I decided I needed a piece of it for something or other. I got out the cutting torch and went at it. Seeing that I'm a ranch welder, I'm by no means an expert at using the torch, but I can usually cut pretty cleanly.

All I managed to do was make part of it red hot and it bent under it's own weight. I never got it to cut. I ended up using it as a slide pole on my son's tree house. I'm told it was nickel oilfield drilling rod of some sort.

Todd Rearick wrote: (Anneal)

You already knew that the blue paint denoted a particular alloy. Are you also aware that it is rare for any two foundrys to have the same color code? It keeps life interesting.

I googled and found that some alloy steels anneal at ca 2000 F for *several hours* and then a gentle ramp down to ambient at a rate not to exceed ~20°F/hr. Clearly not something one does with a torch.

Here is the perfect opportunity for you to build your first Electro Discharge Machine.

You can use your new EDM machine to slice off workpieces of any length.

Use your EDM in plunge mode to carve out your pockets and outer features.

It's simple with the right tools. :)

--Winston

GACK!!!!!!!!!!!! Geeze...no doubt! 718...thats some truely gnarly gnarly stuff to cut. Machining it...thats another issue in itself.

Gunner

That rifle hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or labourer's cottage is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there. - George Orwell

UGH. Yeah...I suppose that would work nicely. This so far has been the typical problem I have. You know...it would be fun to make a DIY EDM machine as a project, but I feel like I am forever burried under a pile of "I need this to do that.." interdependencies. I'm so far removed from what I actually started working on at this point...I don't even remember what it was...

Todd

(Snip)

You too, huh? :)

--Winston

OK, I'll take it!

Parcel Post please.

PO Box 4394 Seven Corners, VA 22044-0394

PS A shaper with downfeed will keep it from work hardening by establishing constant cut depth. Start with 0.002 inch down feed, unless someone here chimes in, or your lathe has power infeed of about that amount. With the shaper, you get more nearly constant cutting speed and very constant feed, while with the lathe, C = pi * D so your SFPM is constantly varying.

Try that, and if it doesn't work I'll take it in.

Yours,

Doug Goncz ( ftp://users.aol.com/DGoncz/ ) Student member SAE for one year. Loves in my life: Dona, Jeff, Kim, Mom, Neelix, Tasha, and Teri, alphabetically. So that is who I spend my time with.