Yeaaaah... I'm sorry but I don't understand at all, I simply said thank you for the info on the drill bits to Steve and now I have 2 enemy's, weird how you old grumps react to things. If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all, this was a perfect example of that.
If I offended anyone with my reply, I sincerely apologize. Someone asked me how I do it and I replied with that information.
If someone has a better idea, I'd love to hear it.
Steve
You can buy GOOD PARTS or you can buy CHEAP PARTS, but you can't buy GOOD CHEAP PARTS.
I don't think that you have made any enemy's, maybe people poking a little fun in a crude backhand kind of way.
Part of the reward for making it to old age is the right to be grumpy, sometimes it is the highlight of my day, right up there with a good morning dump.
nitewatchman
It's not a right. It is a necessity, but now the forum punishes us by not showing our age anymore. I like being eligible to grumpy.
A little box beside the picture would not waste many pixels.
Super X3. 3600rpm. Sheridan 6"x24" Lathe + more. Three ways to fix things: The right way, the other way, and maybe your way, which is possibly a faster wrong way.
Off the subject a little.
In my day job I manage our company's R&D Division and we are looking at the development of a new NDE process. The requires that we produce a 0.040", 0.060" and 0.090" holes through a Austenitic Manganese Steel Casting test blocks 6" thick. These blocks can be quite large and weigh in excess of 2000#. One of the characteristics of AMS is that it work hardens when any force is applied to it. In our manufacturing processes we treat the surface with plastic explosives to raise the hardness from about 180Bhn to 400 to 450Bhn. In service the hardness will increase to 650Bhn.
While we can mill the material using large agressive cutters staying under the work hardened zone, drilling is wishful thinking. Typically a 1" HSS drill may make it 1/4" to 1/2" deep and we typically use insert carbide drills and they are pushed to the limit and don't last very long. Most holes are cored and left raw. To date we have not found a 0.060" insert carbide drill, I think that the screws holding the insert will be too small.
We have also tried EDM and EDM drills. These tend to work but the workpiece is a casting and any inclusion, metallic oxide or othe "booger" tends to insulate and stop the process cold.
We have settled on using a very large (C40) Camman Tap Extractor. Running 300psi coolant pressure this machine will give us a good quality 0.060" hole 6" to 7" deep in about 2 hours. It will also cut a 2" diameter core out of the same material in about 4 hours.
Just another way to attack the problem.
nitewatchman
Maybe the gun drilling people have a solution for you.
Actually that was the problem, everyone said "NO". Unfortunately, we are the last guys in line and when we turned to the right to say no there wassn't anyone standing there. I hate it when that happens.
The gun drilling guys just laughed when they learned that the material contained 1.2% Carbon, 13% Manganese and occasionally 0.6% Chrome. After nearly a year of failed attempts we put a Navy Surplus unit in our lab about 4 months ago and haven't looked back. We have also seen a flurry of motorcycle head with broken studs, pump with broken bolts, etc that find their way in from the shop guys as "government" jobs. We will do stuff like this on a barter basis in exchange for help when we need something fabbed.
When you need a fire - you find a match.
nitewatchman