slitting spring bronze

The reason I asked is they show pictures of it being cut with plain old snips. I think I had a roll of it at one time and used it to connect ham radio equipment chassis together.

Paul

I have a couple of older powered slitters for cutting aircraft aluminum skin. They are variable speed, hand held units. AL skin is pretty tough, but the little I have cut goes like butter once you get it started. Got the devices at an auction sale. Only used them a couple of times.

check with your local FBO at a small airport and see if they will test the bronze in their cutter.

Paul

McMaster lists 3/8" wide 10' length spring temper stainless (301) coils in 0.008" and 0.012" thicknesses among others for about $40, 2416K43 and

McMaster lists 3/8" wide 10' length spring temper stainless (301) coils in 0.008" and 0.012" thicknesses among others for about $40, 2416K43 and

"Michael A. Terrell" on Mon, 20 May 2013

And he / they chose the one they did.

"Tain't so much that it takes all kinds,,, as we have all kinds."

-- pyotr filipivich "With Age comes Wisdom. Although more often, Age travels alone."

Paul Drahn fired this volley in news:knep0e$bl5 $ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Hmmmm.... I'm a pilot, and know about five A&Ps... I'll ask if any of them have one of those.

Lloyd

"Pete C." fired this volley in news:519aec82$0$9410 $ snipped-for-privacy@newsreader.readnews.com:

That's probably the way we'll go, if we cannot properly slit this stuff. The client traditionally uses bronze, but we can most likely talk them into SS, so long as it has a suitable fatigue life.

LLoyd

Gunner Asch fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Sorry, Gunner (and the op who posted that). You can't possibly know the physical arrangement. We've probably thought of a hundred ways you've never imagined. There are NOT 'plenty of ways to do it', or we'd have already done it one of those easier ways.

We're having trouble slitting bronze because we don't have the right tools. Were not dumb.

Lloyd

Hey Lloyd,

Any possibility of coiling the raw stock to say a 5" diameter. or even less diameter to the 2.5 inch "hub" you mention would be even better, and then have slices taken off with wire EDM? Should leave the edges less than sharp. Trick would be to hold it I think, but maybe on a stub arbor?

Brian Lawson

Hey again Lloyd,

I don't know what it is called, but this sounds like the perfect job for the form of a tape measure blade, where when straight, the "blade" is concave (or is it convex??) across its width and wants to stay "straight", and flat when coiled. I haven't seen one for quite some time, but there used to be short rules say 1" wide of 24 or 36" length that were "loose" and not inside a tape measure that worked that way.

Brian Lawson.

"Pete C." fired this volley in news:519aec82$0$9410 $ snipped-for-privacy@newsreader.readnews.com:

Thanks, Pete. Even when we searched the McMaster site, that didn't pop up until we noticed a transient key with "spring temper" in it. So, especially thanks for the part number. We'd have missed it, otherwise.

Have contacted the client. They only always use bronze in this application, but when I gave them the mechanical specs on the #301 strips, they did not refuse to accept it out of hand. Should get approved or denied by tomorrow.

I've ordered it, anyway.

If approved, the problem is solved.

Thanks again. Lloyd

Brian Lawson fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

yep... and/or abrasive wheel cutoff on the mill, with the coil standing vertically, and strapped tightly on either side of the cut.

I'm not real keen on using an abrasive wheel on a mill, but we can cover it adequately, I think. Sort of the same problem as using a toolpost grinder on a lathe (which I hate).

LLoyd

Brian Lawson fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

That's the essence of what we're doing, except plain carbon spring steel is not acceptable. This item will never un-reel, except for a 'standout' piece about 3" long from the body of the coil. The coil will simply unwind to a slightly larger diameter from its rest condition. The rotary element is constrained to 355 degrees of rotation.

It cannot be coiled tightly, because there must not be the chance of crushing explosive particles between layers. It's ok to get them between layers, but there's a limit on the force allowed. The stuff doesn't stick to metal, so as long as it's not crushed, it is 'self cleaning' in that respect.

Lloyd

Happy to help :) If McMaster doesn't have it, you don't need it :)

They paid their money, let them take their chances. ;-)

"Michael A. Terrell" fired this volley in news:SpydnUQM06Be4gbMnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

Yep, and they paid in advance.

They use and allow flexible stainless steel braid where the braid will not interfere with other motions. They usually do not use braid on things that move during use, only on things that might be moved occasionally. Where they must maintain the geometry of a bonding strap or subject it to frequent motion, they use only bronze spring stock.

But consider too, they're an old, 'established' organization with safety rules that date all the way back to the 1930s. So they may have passed by newer materials and technologies for what they already know works. Why spend money on testing for solutions you already have in place? (unless you don't trust them)

We submitted a request for them to review the characteristics of #301 spring temper stainless, and they were at least receptive. We'll see tomorrow.

Lloyd

Chemical or electrochemical machining? Put down tape the size of what is wanted, and etch the rest away. Phosphor bronze is not hard to etch.

Joe Gwinn

Hello,

I have pondered that if I had this problem in my shop I think I'd try this:

Mount ID of roll on an expanding arbor in lathe, pay attention to orientation of roll.

Place two hose clamps on OD of roll, one to left of cut, other to right of cut, about the width of my cutoff blade apart.

Use a sharp HSS cutoff blade to part off 3/8" slice of the roll between the clamps.

Feeds & speeds for this material I couldn't suggest, but should be some info about this available elsewhere.

Move/remove the clamps and do another slice.

First slice cut off would tell you if it's a workable plan, without destroying too much material if it's not going to work for some reason.

G'luck