cutting a keyway in a hardened & ground shaft

I've got a nice piece of hardened (60-65C) and ground shaft. Can I cut a keyway in it with a carbide endmill? Or am I just asking for a busted endmill?

Tove

Reply to
Tove Momerathsson
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I've drilled through a HSS reamer using a carbide endmill on a radial arm drill press.

Slow speed, slow feed. I think I ran the 1/2" EM at about 100 RPM and .001"/rev feed, just to give you an idea of what you should be expecting.

Regards,

Robin

Reply to
Robin S.

Gack..how rigid is your mill?

Gunner

"I think this is because of your belief in biological Marxism. As a genetic communist you feel that noticing behavioural patterns relating to race would cause a conflict with your belief in biological Marxism." Big Pete, famous Usenet Racist

Reply to
Gunner

can be done , i would not try to cut fully hard shafting though , can you anneal the end where yopu need the key?

if it is thomps> I've got a nice piece of hardened (60-65C) and ground shaft. Can I

Reply to
c.henry

Plan on using more than one cutter on a very good machine. Have you tried some of the new coated carbides? Give TIALN a try. Can you grind it? or maybe EDM?

Reply to
Dave Lyon

Opps, forgot another useful tip.

Use a ball endmill to rough it out. They aren't as likely to chip on the corners as a flat bottom. Machine dry with an airblast if you can't keep the chips away. A little heat is your friend in this case.

Reply to
Dave Lyon

Oops -- didn't even think about warping.

So on to Plan B: Just use drillrod and replace the shaft when it starts to show signs of wear. It's going to be a temporary countershaft for my

9" SB, to be used until I design and build a better horizontal drive unit. Unfortunately, past experience has shown that my "temporary" fixes have a half-life of 3-4 years, so I wanted something that'd stand up for a while. OTOH, I can probably make several shafts out of drillrod in the time it'd take to gnaw one out of hardened shaft.

Thanks, Tove

Reply to
Tove Momerathsson

You might be able to cut a flat on shaft then silver solder a piece of keystock there and cut top of key to fit pully. Jim

Reply to
jim

How *long* a key -- and where relative to the end of the shaft? If it is very short (say a diameter or two) and at the end of the shaft, the amount of warp may be small enough to not be a problem to you.

If it is the whole length of the shaft, then the warpage is much more of a problem.

Good Luck, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

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