Should put some nice chamfers and radii on the edges, you use the edge of an anvil a fair but, and being able to select a radius, chamfer, or square edge is nice.
Well this was a personal project at a shop I work at, so I don't have any pricing knowledge really. I did burn up several sides to the inserts I used, so that's like $60 in tools, took about an hour of messing around with it. I bet a shop with more experience with hard metal and big stuff would charge you $100-200 to face it, depends on shop rate and stuff.
I wonder what someone with wire EDM would charge. That seems like an ideal and cheap use. I've been dreaming of EDM lately... in a Linsey Publications type of context.
Carbide is acceptable and will get the job done, but youre going to burn up a lot of inserts getting it dialed in.
Ceramic, on the other hand, is purpose designed for cutting hardened materials.
I was tearing my hair out trying to turn a hardened 4140 piece in my lathe even running carbide. Then I picked up some ceramic inserts and it was like night and day. Immediate and dramatic improvement in surface finish and tool life.
We have a face mill that takes the same style carbide (although smaller size) that my lathe tool does and I'm very interested to see how that runs with ceramic.
Tungsten and boron carbide should be much harder than any ceramic, though I have had similar experiences with carbide drill bits. I wonder what exactly "carbide" actually means sometimes.
Most carbide I've run into is usually around 65HRC. The ceramic is have in my lathe right now is 95HRC. Its a significant difference. Its brittle, so it doesn't like interrupted cuts, but it loves heat and speed that would cook carbide in seconds.
21 Comments
WhiteHotaru@feddit.org · 8 pts · 172d
What are we looking at? Are you polishing the top face to be usable again?
domdanial@reddthat.com · 10 pts · 172d
Yep, just decking the top to make it smooth and flat. Had been forgotten in a barn for 30 years.
deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz · 3 pts · 171d
It's looks like it's in remarkably good condition for 30 years in a barn!
What comes next after machining the top?
Nomecks@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 171d
Anvils last a long time even in the shittiest conditions. They're blocks of iron or steel and it's hard for rust to really penetrate deep
domdanial@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 171d
Also I'd already attacked it with a flap disk to get most of the surface rust off, it was pretty fuzzy when I started.
Nomecks@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 171d
Is it branded on the other side?
domdanial@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 171d
I flipped it over actually, try to get the bottom parallel but I gave up after a few passes, it would have taken more than I was willing to cut.
ironeagl@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 171d
Should put some nice chamfers and radii on the edges, you use the edge of an anvil a fair but, and being able to select a radius, chamfer, or square edge is nice.
j4k3@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 171d
How much does a job like that run at retail walk-in rate?
domdanial@reddthat.com · 7 pts · 171d
Well this was a personal project at a shop I work at, so I don't have any pricing knowledge really. I did burn up several sides to the inserts I used, so that's like $60 in tools, took about an hour of messing around with it. I bet a shop with more experience with hard metal and big stuff would charge you $100-200 to face it, depends on shop rate and stuff.
Atropos@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 171d
If it's hardened, you'll want carbide tooling, which can be spendy if you break it. A shell/face mill like was used here works great.
Personally, I probably would have tried to fly cut this with a carbide tool for that extra fancy surface finish!
I would charge $75 or so to do this if I like you. But I only machine as a hobby, and have no idea of going rates for walk-ins.
j4k3@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 171d
I wonder what someone with wire EDM would charge. That seems like an ideal and cheap use. I've been dreaming of EDM lately... in a Linsey Publications type of context.
Atropos@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 171d
That'd be a long depth of cut! Would also leave a rougher surface, if you care about that.
KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 168d
Carbide is acceptable and will get the job done, but youre going to burn up a lot of inserts getting it dialed in.
Ceramic, on the other hand, is purpose designed for cutting hardened materials.
I was tearing my hair out trying to turn a hardened 4140 piece in my lathe even running carbide. Then I picked up some ceramic inserts and it was like night and day. Immediate and dramatic improvement in surface finish and tool life.
We have a face mill that takes the same style carbide (although smaller size) that my lathe tool does and I'm very interested to see how that runs with ceramic.
socsa@piefed.social · 1 pts · 168d
Tungsten and boron carbide should be much harder than any ceramic, though I have had similar experiences with carbide drill bits. I wonder what exactly "carbide" actually means sometimes.
KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 168d
Most carbide I've run into is usually around 65HRC. The ceramic is have in my lathe right now is 95HRC. Its a significant difference. Its brittle, so it doesn't like interrupted cuts, but it loves heat and speed that would cook carbide in seconds.
Atropos@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 168d
65 seems really low to me for something called carbide, but I'll need to do some research into this!
viral.vegabond@piefed.social · 2 pts · 171d
about tree-fiddy
HeartyOfGlass@piefed.social · 4 pts · 171d
How heavy is that sucker?
domdanial@reddthat.com · 6 pts · 171d
It said 127lbs on the casting, just about all I could do to pick it up.
a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 171d
Good call. Gotta lift it by the horn.
domdanial@reddthat.com · 1 pts · 170d