Cutting spring steel

I need to cut some parts of spring steel -- probably 0.005 or 0.010 thick 1095 (RC ~50) -- on my 770-3. I have mist but not flood coolant. I plan tol rough shear the stock and drill for 4-40 screws to secure to an aluminum fixture. After cutting, the final pieces will be semi-circular strips about 0.5x1.75 inches with rounded corners and 4 screw holes.

Should I use a Dijet insert cutter? If so, which inserts? RPM, feed, DoC, WoC? Should I cut dry or with mist?

Any suggestions appreciated!

I'd be really tempted to send that off to SendCutSend or somewhere like that to have them laser cut, but if you mill, you'll probably want to sandwich it between two pieces for the hold-down.

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Originally Posted by kstrauss

I need to cut some parts of spring steel -- probably 0.005 or 0.010 thick 1095 (RC ~50) -- on my 770-3. I have mist but not flood coolant. I plan tol rough shear the stock and drill for 4-40 screws to secure to an aluminum fixture. After cutting, the final pieces will be semi-circular strips about 0.5x1.75 inches with rounded corners and 4 screw holes.

Should I use a Dijet insert cutter? If so, which inserts? RPM, feed, DoC, WoC? Should I cut dry or with mist?

Any suggestions appreciated!

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Just a regular coated carbide endmill will work ok, drill or punch your holes and then use the holes with an aluminum plate on top to mount them, then you can machine the shape you need, if you are drilling the holes you will have to clamp them tight to do this so will need a fixture for this

Mist is fine but dry should be ok as well, will depend on the cutter being used

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Originally Posted by shred

I'd be really tempted to send that off to SendCutSend or somewhere like that to have them laser cut, but if you mill, you'll probably want to sandwich it between two pieces for the hold-down.

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I checked the SendCutSend website and the cost in stainless is good (<$1 each) based on my supplied .DXF. Unfortunately their quote system doesn't list spring steel plus they have a $19 shipping charge to Canada. I'll have to give them a call to check on the availability of spring steel.

To save time I'll probably cut at least the first sample pieces here.

My experience with spring steel is that milling it with carbide is fine. It will burn up HSS drills tho, you will need to use carbide drills. (If you have small holes, cheap PCB drills work).
Other than that it's not special, just slow and steady. I used mist, I did not have flood coolant at the time. It worked out.

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Originally Posted by aucran

My experience with spring steel is that milling it with carbide is fine. It will burn up HSS drills tho, you will need to use carbide drills. (If you have small holes, cheap PCB drills work).
Other than that it's not special, just slow and steady. I used mist, I did not have flood coolant at the time. It worked out.

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Quality HSS drills will drill it without any problem it is only 50Rc

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Originally Posted by kstrauss

I checked the SendCutSend website and the cost in stainless is good (<$1 each) based on my supplied .DXF. Unfortunately their quote system doesn't list spring steel plus they have a $19 shipping charge to Canada. I'll have to give them a call to check on the availability of spring steel.

To save time I'll probably cut at least the first sample pieces here.

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Hmm. I see Blue Temper Spring Steel there but 0.015" is the only thickness so that may not work anyway.

Hi,
a trick we sometimes use to cut a keyway in a hardened shaft, or drill a dimple etc is to use oxy-acet and heat the area of the required cut and thereby soften it. This works only if you can heat
a particular spot WITHOUT upsetting the heat-treated properties of the rest of the piece.

Does the piece of spring steel have dimensions big enough that you might heat one spot and yet leave the rest largely unaffected?

Craig

It is probably not big enough to selectively heat! (It is about 1/2 x 1 3/4 inches)

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Originally Posted by joeavaerage

Hi,
a trick we sometimes use to cut a keyway in a hardened shaft, or drill a dimple etc is to use oxy-acet and heat the area of the required cut and thereby soften it. This works only if you can heat
a particular spot WITHOUT upsetting the heat-treated properties of the rest of the piece.

Does the piece of spring steel have dimensions big enough that you might heat one spot and yet leave the rest largely unaffected?

Craig

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Spring steel does not need to be annealed to be machined, spring steel is easy to machine even in its toughest form 48 / 52 RC there are some spring steels that can have a higher hardness than this, but the normal spring steel used in never above 48 / 52 RC

I cut holes for 4-40 screws in spring tempered 301 SS using a Hi Roc solid carbide 135* split point carbide drill bit and Mobilmet Omega cutting fluid. https://www.travers.com/product/ma-f...e-drill-493276