I bought a bunch of endmills from a machine shop going out of business. The seller told me some of them were carbide. I saw some of them that were dull grey instead of shiny steel but they were all magnetic. Is tungsten carbide magnetic? Engineman
carbide
Jun 15, 2008
7 Replies
Yep, the binder is cobalt which is magnetic.
Tungsten carbide itself isn't, but the cobalt binder is. The endmills also will be noticeably heavier than HSS.
-- Ed Huntress
Magnetic, but more weakly than steel would be. The density is the real giveaway - they will be far heavier than a steel cutter of the same size. Enough so that you shouldn't have to find a steel one to compare - it will be much heavier than experience tells you it should be.
John Martin
Yup, spin them 400 fpm or so, do not over feed them. Do not used them in non-rigid setups.
Wes
Ed of course means to say, *denser* than HSS, not necessarily heavier.
I suspect they'll be both. d8-)
-- Ed Huntress
Usually you can tell whether they are carbide, just by holding in your hand, that's how much denser they are. Also, carbide can be very mildly magnetic, unlike HSS which is strongly magnetic. Very big difference.
Also, carbide can scratch HSS, but not vise versa.
Carbide and steel may look alike, esp. if they are coated with something like TiN.
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