Cutting carbide

[cathead]

Yesterday I got a little package from TEMU who sells several versions of diamond wheel cutters. The wheels I got were
4.5 inch diameter with a 20mm hole. I had hoped it would fit on an angle grinder but the hole was several millimeters too
small. I used a die grinder to open up the hole and installed it in the angle grinder with a worn out cutoff wheel since the
diamond wheel itself was a little too thin to grab. I experimented with it a bit and it cut into HSS easily and then was surprised
to see it would cut on carbide well too. First I cut off the end of a 5/16 end mill in a 1/8 inch slice and then decided to see
if it would make it through a .5 inch diameter end mill and it did quite easily actually. I learned later that one can cut with the face
of the wheel for flattening cut off pieces. The neat part about that is that one can see exactly what you are cutting as there are holes
in the perimeter of the wheel. The diamond wheels cost a little over two dollars each so if I can make several cut-offs with each
wheel, it will be cost effective.

The green wheel is the diamond cutter and the arrow points to the sliced off end of a 1/2 inch carbide end mill. It would be
a good idea to do this outside I think since the end mill contains chromium, probably a mask would be advisable as well.







I made a cemented carbide in this photo using silver solder and gave it a test run, it cuts just fine. I made it as a right handed cutter
for the moment.

Some sort of jig to hold the material accurately would be in the works I think since I did this free hand holding the
end mill with a vise grip pliers.

 

[MrCrankyface]

Diamond will cut just about any metal but is best suited for carbide, just make sure you don't let it overheat as that quickly ruins it.
Supposedly CBN is better for HSS but in my experience, as a hobbyist, either works fine for both as long as you work with their different pros and cons.

 

[cathead]

Diamond will cut just about any metal but is best suited for carbide, just make sure you don't let it overheat as that quickly ruins it.
Supposedly CBN is better for HSS but in my experience, as a hobbyist, either works fine for both as long as you work with their different pros and cons.

Interesting! Thanks for the response. I like your (gear+CR) logo and it caught my eye since I have been planning to
make one like yours with my initials in it. I have been making a lot of oak tool cabinets and want to wood burn my logo
on the inside cover of the boxes. I was in Malmo years ago and if I remember correctly we took a boat from Malmo
to Travamunde.