Gallery, Projects and General > How do I??

Making half-round steel pieces

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AdeV:
I need to make/buy some 4" diameter half-round steel bar pieces each 3.5" long. Unfortunately, no-one seems to stock anything bigger than 3", and even 2" is £lots/foot.

So... making...

What's the best way in your opinion?

1/ Buy 2x lumps of 4.something * 2.something * say 4" steel. Glue together. Turn to size in the lathe, chop square end off.

2/ Buy as above, but mill each one in the milling machine, either on the rotary table (manual) or CNC.
(optional step 2a/ When close to tolerance, glue together and finish in lathe for perfect circularity & finish

3/ Buy slightly larger (4.125" say) diameter round bar, cut to length, beg Mr Mawson to cut them in half with his EDM wire cutter, then finish in the lathe as per step 2a.

4/ Buy my own EDM wire cutter and proceed as per 3, only without the begging :lol: (hint: this one isn't practical)

5/ Something else I hadn't thought of.

All comments welcomed!

awemawson:
Buy 4" bar and slice it in half with a band saw thus saving at least 20 hours edm time  :lol:

Lew_Merrick_PE:
Ade,

Not knowing your shop or tooling...  Here in the U.S. (moderately) large diameter steel round bar normally comes in ø4 (±.016), ø4.25, ø4.50, etc. types of diameters.  Now, assuming that you have a steel-cutting bandsaw, a somewhat greater than ø4 inch diameter should be easily cut into (2) something greater than ø4 inch pieces.  Dress the faces and bond together using (say) acrylic adhesive (with, maybe, some screws & dowels in "excess length") and turn to size.  Cut & dress to length.

The reason I am suggesting acrylic adhesive is that a moderate stint in a -5°C freezer will made the bond brittle enough to break with a BFH and a solid support.

Would that work for you?  [Irrational minds want to know...]

AdeV:
Unfortunately, my bandsaw is more of a woodworking bandsaw than a metal one, it runs way too fast & blunts blades in no time if you get them to cut anything harder than, well, wood. Even aluminium kills the blades off. Plus, the blade tends to wander, even if I try to use a fence it starts trying to cut either closer or further away, and once it's off course, there's no bringing it back.

So... bandsaws, unless someone's got a really good one they'd be prepared to cut a few bits of steel for me, are not an option.

BTW, I need at least 4 of these things, so that's a little over 7" of bar to cut up.

Lew - will acrylic glue survive the heat of  machining? I'd assumed the use of cyanoacrylate (superglue), allowing plenty of time to cool the bar after taking a cut.

AdeV:
Hmmm.... I could use a circular saw in the mill.... I'd need to go for at least 4 1/2" OD due to the thickness of the cut, but it'd still be less deadly than trying to round off a 4" square section, I reckon.

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