Alright machinists I got a ?
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Topic: Alright machinists I got a ?
Posted By: Thad in AR.
Subject: Alright machinists I got a ?
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 6:18pm
I had to make a down rod for an outside on the porch ceiling fan. The homeowners wanted large Pipe so they decided on 1.5” I made a wooden beam in the ridge (vaulted ceiling) and used pipe flanges on each end. The electricians gave me a decorative weather proof box to mount to the bottom flange. The flange was much larger than the box so I cut a short piece of pipe and threaded it in the flange and chucked it in the lathe. I tried every kind of bit I had hss and carbide and I could hardly touch that stuff. I wound up grinding it down. It was made in China and just wouldn’t cut.
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Replies:
Posted By: TMiller/NC
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 6:29pm
Who knows what's in Chinese metal, especially if it is a casting or forging.... They just chunk old files, bearings, or other harden steel in the mix. I've have been sawing angle (imported) and all the sudden on a cut the saw blade just stops cutting, stop saw and look at teeth all just blunted off as in hitting a hard spot.
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Posted By: JC-WI
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 6:43pm
In 2000 I was cutting malasian steel and that crap would be cutting along with the torch and all of a sudden it would blow up in your face... cut around the spot and go on.. Grind it afterwards to smooth it off and it would shower thin very short sparks. Some thought maybe it was like tungsten, and high carbon steel was suggested too...
------------- He who says there is no evil has already deceived himself The truth is the truth, sugar coated or not. Trawler II says, "Remember that."
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Posted By: DMiller
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 7:11pm
Called 'Bastard' steel as contains about every type of steel known to man.
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Posted By: desertjoe
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 7:15pm
HMMmmm,,thats odd,,,I've never come up on that ,,you would think it prolly bein cast,would cut like butter,,,But,,there ain't nuttin that will stand up to the trusty 4 1/2" grinders,,,is there,,?? I made me a "Shade Tree Clamp" to use one of my 4 1/2" grinders on the ways of the lathe,,kinda like a poor man's mill, sorta a crude thing but HEY,,it works for what I got to do,,,,,  I'm gonna get me a small mill one of these days,,,,,, 
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Posted By: Les Royer
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 7:34pm
Well Thad, since all the Cheby guys said the Ferds went to China as scrap, I'd say you got yerself part of an old 49 F-150 thar.......
Just go steal.....I mean borrow a chunk of steel from one of Shameless's trucks. It'll be like cutting butter.
------------- I still gots my A/C but it's clear out in the barn now.
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Posted By: nella(Pa)
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 7:34pm
Did you have the cutting tool set at the proper hight? Not above center.
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Posted By: thendrix
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 7:59pm
I agree with Nella, check center. If it's cast I'd try turning a little slower than recommended with hss and see what that does
------------- "Farming is a business that makes a Las Vegas craps table look like a regular paycheck" Ronald Reagan
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Posted By: Thad in AR.
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 8:03pm
nella(Pa) wrote:
Did you have the cutting tool set at the proper hight? Not above center. | I adjusted it I started at just below center and adjusted down a few tries. I even tried an HSS parting tool from the end and it wouldn’t do much.
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Posted By: DiyDave
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 8:10pm
Time fer the tool post grinder...
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Posted By: chaskaduo
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 8:56pm
Les is feeling better. 
------------- 1938 B, 79 Dynamark 11/36 6spd, 95 Weed-Eater 16hp, 2010 Bolens 14hp
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Posted By: DaveKamp
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 9:10pm
You've assessed it correctly- it's crap metal... they don't sort, or process-clean the scrap, and do very little to remove impurities to the pot before making a pour.
It's not unusual to run into a hard spot in quality steel every so often... steels based on virgin iron tend not to have it often, but it still CAN happen, particularly in tubing, where there's a welded seam that gets quenched a little different from the rest... but most of the imported stuff, it's just an alloy of ignorance... whatever they threw in.
I have three metal-cutting bandsaws in my shop arsenal, and there's plenty of times when I pull out the abrasive chop-saw, or an air cutoff tool, or the 4" or 8" grinder.
God gave us some awesome machine tools... and for everything else, there is abrasives. ;-)
------------- Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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Posted By: thendrix
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2018 at 9:14pm
Thad in AR. wrote:
nella(Pa) wrote:
Did you have the cutting tool set at the proper hight? Not above center. | I adjusted it I started at just below center and adjusted down a few tries. I even tried an HSS parting tool from the end and it wouldn’t do much. |
Set your tool on center and put a small radius on the tip. Make sure you chuck it as close to the chuck as possible to limit deflection. Slow, small cuts until you get through the hard spot
------------- "Farming is a business that makes a Las Vegas craps table look like a regular paycheck" Ronald Reagan
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Posted By: desertjoe
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2018 at 3:29am
Ditto what Tyler says about tool settings,,,
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