CF, KF, ISO, and the odd flange blues

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Rich Feldman
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Re: CF, KF, ISO, and the odd flange blues

Post by Rich Feldman »

Nice work there, Finn. Not sure if your drill-with-curly-chips pictures are dynamic (where are the oil and the smoke?) or a well-staged static view.

Re. tools & methods for cutting stainless steel. I think the amount of work is roughly proportional to the newly formed surface area of chips, shavings, swarf, or sparks and dust.

Don't forget hole saws. This thread has some good pictures. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10954&p=72543 . I've hole-sawed mild steel more than 3/4" thick without surprises. The proper spindle RPM for stainless might well be a number with only two digits. Don't hold the workpiece in place with your hands.

For thin material, don't forget punches. Can make holes much faster & more accurately located than drilling. The Roper Whitney No. 5 Jr punch has the same design today as it did when introduced to me in 1974, before the name started with Roper.
whitney_punch_b.jpg
whitney_punch_b.jpg (10.35 KiB) Viewed 3251 times
I used mine last night. Will have to try it on 0.062" stainless -- the mfr's tables say it ought to work. https://www.roperwhitney.com/tonnage/
All models are wrong; some models are useful. -- George Box
Jerry Biehler
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Re: CF, KF, ISO, and the odd flange blues

Post by Jerry Biehler »

Stainless is easy to work as long as you make sure when cutting and drilling that you do not let up on cutting pressure and let the tool rub instead of cut. Stainless work hardens immediately which usually means frying a tool or getting out some carbide.

Also, cutting fluid is not a lubricant, it is actually the opposite, it encourages metal to metal contact while keeping chips from welding to the tool or to the work and drawing the heat away. Don't try to use stuff like oil, it can make things worse than trying to cut dry. I use the green synthetic LPS Tapmagic for hand stuff. For the bandsaw I use one of the cutting wax sticks and for the cnc mill and lathe I use Trico TC-1 with a Bujur misting system. Though for lathe and mill work a lot of stainless stuff is cut dry with modern tool coatings.
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Bob Reite
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Re: CF, KF, ISO, and the odd flange blues

Post by Bob Reite »

LPS Tapmatic is great stuff!
The more reactive the materials, the more spectacular the failures.
The testing isn't over until the prototype is destroyed.
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Finn Hammer
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Re: CF, KF, ISO, and the odd flange blues

Post by Finn Hammer »

Rick,

The pictures are staged indeed, with a twist!
What you see is not the drilling operation, instead I wanted to show off the fancy Titanium coated, spirally fluted 8mm metric threading tap, making its way to the bottom of the hole lubricated by Rocol cutting paste, the brown stuff you see at the edge of the hole.

Cheers, Finn Hammer
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