Quote:
Originally Posted by TrevorW
Thanks Mark for your work and input
the stainless steel is hard but not impossible to cut and I'm sure with the right equipment could be easily worked as the spec sheet I got on it indicated
316L stainless steel tends to work harden if machined too quickly. For this reason low speeds and constant feed rates are recommended
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Trevor you can get stainless rod that is classified as machine rod due to the presence of sulfur in the alloy as are some grades of Al which machine better than others. Even at slow speeds (200 - 400 RPM) with a 0.25 mm feed rate and 5 litres of coolant per minute that stuff you got would not play. In fact I only managed to cut the metal when I took 1mm bites out of it not the usual 0.5mm bites. I had to heat it with the oxy and slowly temper the metal to make any headway at all (a common practice for some grades). For machining it is best to have the metal in the softened state (eg silver steel or high speed steel is soft at first) when cutting then heat treat it after to get the hardness. No doubt a professional machine shop would have diamond cutting tools and by my reckoning they are going to need them to do anything with that stainless rod you have.
Cheers
Mark