Gallery, Projects and General > How do I??

What Have I got?

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Darren:
Oh dear, I've done it again ....  :doh:

Picked up some 2" steel bar yesterday thinking it was mild steel and it's not....

Funny thing is I'm lost to what it might be. The power hacksaw and bandsaw won't touch it, after scratching the surface the teeth are gone, well half gone.
But it files ok ... that's what stumps me  :scratch:

With tungsten tips it lathes beautifully, fantastic finish very much like the lorry half shafts I machined some time ago. But the finish is not as chrome like and a tad more even. That could be the lathe though.

When lathing the swarf comes off in one long piece with each cut and rarely breaks. I'm talking 15ft of swarf  'ere in one long string. It's tough too like a spring.

What else? Oh yes, I got roughly two pieces 3ft long, these were cut from 6m lengths of which there were plenty of in the yard. So it's not halfshafts this time. This is bar stock...but what  :scratch:

Does machine nice though, just can't cut it .....  :doh:

Edit: Just remembered sumut, it doesn't seem to have a soft core, same all the way through.

cedge:
Mystery Metal.... we all own some and have the dull band saw blades to prove it....LOL

I wound up with some stainless that acted much like you describe, along with some sort of bronze that cuts well on the band saw but machines like it has demons living in the alloy. Beautiful stuff, but really nasty to turn on the lathe.

Steve

Bluechip:
Cedge is probably right ..

It might JUST be EN58 Stainless in one of it's derivations (303??). This stuff work hardens quite severely. I've used lots in the past for M'cycle stuff.  Poke it with a magnet. EN58 is non-magnetic. EN56 is, but a lot less than  mild steel. If you get a known bit of each, the difference is apparent.

Damn near impossible to take a .002" cut on it, but .015" OK .
Your description of the swarf fits to a Tee.

Like all stainless, it's a lousy conductor of heat, so your bandsaw blade will have a desparate time. Get very hot.

Never had much trouble hacksawing it tho', but always used Trefolex ..

Got a 4' length of 25mm hardened stainless myself. Had it for years. Never found a use for it.

Dave BC

Darren:
This is rusty on the outside.

I've managed to use it for what I wanted, post coming later ... nearly done.

BTW, it eats HSS drills but Cobalt is fine .. ?

Bluechip:
Darren

Not EN58 stainless then. EN56 (416 ?) will go slightly rusty, but not very much.

Another wild guess is that it could be an alloy steel not in the (usual ?) normalised condition.
From vague memory it's possible to get someting like EN16 suffixed by 'T' ie EN16T which is normalised and not too bad to machine.
If you have bar in some other condition it can be a gruesome business.

Sorry about 'EN' stuff all I know  ::)

Try this >>

http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Matter/Strength_st.htm

How near are you to Sellafield? ... it doesn't glow in the dark by any chance ??

Dave BC

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