Trepanning 4" hole in D-2

Dec 14, 2011 8 Replies

Every 5 years or so I have to make a dozen circular shear blades. The finished blades are 8" x 1" with a 4" bore. I get sawn disks that are a bit over. The last time I did this I made a trepanning bit for the bores then finished the bore with a boring bar. I do have a 10 hp Reed Prentice lathe that does the job well without complaining. It's a nice bonus top have a dozen of the cut-outs to make small parts and dies!



The problem is that I can't find the trepanning tool I made and know almost nothing about commercial ones. I remember what a bitch it was making the last one and I really don't want to make another. When I did this job last, I could only cut half way through the 1" and had to flip the blank. I also broke or chipped the business end often and frankly the damn thing kind of scared me.



Where and what commercial tool should I get? What's the correct technique to do this?


Valenite face grooving and trepanning tools for use on vertical mills were the model, but this seems to have vanished.

Search for "Circle Cutter & Trepanning Blades" at MSC. Many will go quite deep, and there are many choices.

Joe Gwinn

I just Googled "trepanning tool" and came up with several manufacturers, plus a bunch of pictures. This might help you.

Paul

Google is too liberal for Tom.

i

I do use Google, I'm much more tolerant than most liberals but was hoping that somebody here that knows trepanning might share some wisdom.

Maybe I am misunderstanding the job, but could you use an annular cutter from Hougen or Jancey and then clean up the bore a bit if needed?

Maybe I am misunderstanding the job, but could you use an annular cutter from Hougen or Jancey and then clean up the bore a bit if needed? [/quote]

This is your excuse to buy a waterjet machine!

I started looking and a 3-1/2" Annular cutter is many hundreds of dollars; it would be cheaper to send the disks out. But... I put out the word to some friends in the business that I wanted to borrow one. Thanks.

Check eBay... They sell often there.

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