Stainless Steel Project Help

McMaster has 1-7/8 ball knobs as well. Check with Reid Tool, Carr-Lane, and Misumi and you may find something closer to 1-1/2".

52100 is probably a bit more corrosion resistant than mild steel, but not much. If you handle a nice clean bearing then set it aside for a few days, chances are it'll have rusty fingerprints on it when you return.

I'd be more inclined to call austenitic SS "ordinary" than martensitic. I'll bet you come in daily contact with more austenitic than martensitic SS.

I doubt many folks who've worked with 304/316 SS would rate its machinability as good. I used to be in the marine hardware business so have worked a lot with 304/316 and had large rigid machines to do the work. It's nothing to be frightened of, and there's stuff that's much worse, but easy to machine? Uh-uh. 303 is much easier.

Ned Simmons

Obviously this talk about knobs means that like the one pieceball-stick idea, using a chrome-steel bearing is not a good idea, so I'll do some more searching.

I know it's easier. I was just going by the following info I got off of the McMaster-Carr site:

Stainless Steel Types Performance Characteristics

*********************************************************** Corrosion Resistance

-------------------------------- Excellent: 316, A286, Nitronic 60 Good: 301, 302, 304, 309, 321 Fair: 303, 430 Poor: 410, 416, 420, 440C Not rated: 420V, 15-5 PH, 17-4 PH

Machinability

------------------- Excellent: 303, 416 Good: 304, 316, 410, 430 Fair: 301, 302, 309, 321, 420 Poor: 420V, 440C, 15-5 PH, 17-4 PH, Nitronic 60, A286

Weldability

---------------- Good: 301, 302, 304, 316, 321, 17-4 PH Fair: 410 Difficult: 303, 416, 440C

Well, yeah, I'd agree that 304 machines well compared to (ugh) Nitronic, but you could come up with a chart where Nitronic rates excellent when compared to, for example, tungsten.

Ned Simmons

Darren:

If I have maligned you unfairly I apologize. My only point in posting was to warn people not too spend too much time on your posts, because the chance of you ever acting on any of the information you receive is excedingly small. Or so it appears from your posts - I can't find any in which your projects get past the thinking stage. I could be wrong - but I doubt it.

You're now asking about information on which drill press you should buy. Let's see, you asked for advice about buying that drill press over three years ago, and you received it. I guess that before you laid out your $50 you wanted to be sure, but that seems like a very long time to have agonized over the purchase of such a basis tool.

You asked just recently about plating brass or bronze contacts, and that one also goes back about three years. Back then, you also wanted to know where to find replacement blades for a Stanley utility knife, to cut out the contact strips. Did you ever find them, or do you still need help with that?

The milling machine? Well, that one goes back a while too, doesn't it?

You just had a quote from one of the members of this group to make you exactly the plates you wanted for fifteen bucks apiece. Someone who lives near you. Time to fish or cut bait, I'd say. Instead, you take off on a tangent - discussing whether you should be turning a ball handle from solid 1-1/2" stainless bar, when you admit you don't even have a way of forming the ball.

Back in 2002, you said "I'm an amateur inventor who has a huge number of project that have stopped just short of production, and I'm trying to learn what I need to make the next step." I'd like to hear that you have taken that next step, but from all of your posts I never get that feeling. I've read more than a few of your posts, and don't recall ever seeing one in which you mentioned actually doing anything, or even answering another's question. They are all requests for help with your problems. Makes me wonder if you're just trolling for attention.

This new project apparently involves a new joystick for your Nintendo game. That's fine. I hope you make it. And I hope you'll tell us about it. I won't hold my breath waiting, though.

John Martin

Have you ever machined any?

303 isn't bad. 416 machines very well. 17-4 is a royal PIA. It is twice as hard as 303 when anneled.

Even though this reference states 304 machines "good" it still has it quirks. For example 304 will work harden if you pause while machining (like let the drill bit stop cutting for a second with some pressure applied) and now the surface is hard enough to stop the drill bit.

My answer to stainless steel is to use quality carbide cutters. Works well, cost a bunch.

chuck

Yeah, but since we are talking about 304/316*... :-)

Even though I don't have the room, I bid on one of those (Home Depot)Ridgid drill presses that was listed on Ebay several days ago, but not enough. So now I'm hoping to find a good 1/2 HP bench-top that I can use for this.(I just won't be able to thread any rods until I get a mini-lathe).

Since I'm going with the ball-cup idea instead of the trough, hopefully machining will be easier.

I was thinking of getting polished stainless steel plates for the opposite flat surface, but now I wonder if there will be slippage and whether or not a little more friction would be necessary in order for the bearings to spin like they are supposed to.

Carr-Lane may have what I need as far as a knob, and since I can still be flexible, you've convinced me that I should probably go with standard parts where I can and change the dimension of teh other parts where needed.(Less machining to worry about that way). :-) So I'll go with Carr-Lane's 1-1/2" ball knob and get 7/16" rod machined to screw into it with some Locktite. The opposite end of that rod will have to be threaded also, except for the last 1/4" or so which will still have to be machined down to 1/4" in diameter. (But again, I'll need a lathe for that).

BTW. If there are better materials that would be considered more wear resistant as for as the bearings and plate(and can be machined using a table-top drill press) I'm still open to ideas.

Thanks a lot. :-)

Darren Harris Staten Island, New York.

Can anyone tell me if a hand tapper is suitable for stainless steel I want to use? And is there a suitable 3/4 hp benchtop drill press for what I want to do, should I find a floor model?

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris Staten Island, New York.