"Eddie" wrote in news:YWpmf.2225$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net:
Recently I cut some small SmCo and NdBFe magnets with a water cooled thin diamond blade.
The SmCo chipped pretty bad. The NdBFe didn't chip at all but it's pretty tough stuff.
No rusting on either one.
Make sure the magnets are held down REALLY well.
For the NdBFe the blade had ~36um (325 mesh) diamonds and the SFPM was ~12,000. Cut speed was real slow ~0.040"/sec.
--Google on a guy by the name of George Greenough. He made a
21-ft dia wind generator and made the generator himself. I watched him the day he finished turning the magnets on the rotating outer housing that would eventually support the blades. It was the most incredible kludge of a machining setup I've ever seen! He used one of those multipurpose woodshop lathes and held the tool in a precarious contraption that occasionally let go, shooting the carbide-tipped cutter across the shop. But he got it done and it worked when finished. Last I heard it's still generating power somewhere at the Hollister Ranch in So Cal.PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.