# Best steel for home made tooling?



## umnik (Jun 18, 2019)

What is the best steel for making tooling like lathe cutter holder, quick change cutter holder, fly cutter and such. What about heat treating them for better wearability and rigidity? What is you experience and recommendations?


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## markba633csi (Jun 18, 2019)

Ordinary steel such as 1018 would serve for all three of those items, since they aren't typically highly stressed, the fly cutter a possible exception
There are more exotic choices such as 1144, 12L14, 4140 and so forth if you need higher strength, better machinability or some other feature
Usually, several steels will be suitable for any particular job, often the choice is made easier by what we have on hand 
Mark
ps heat-treating is a whole other subject, I'll let someone else cover that


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## Canus (Jun 19, 2019)

I agree with Mark on choice of steel.  I have made all of the items you mentioned from odds and ends I had laying about and have not needed to heat treat any of them.  If you want to make cutting tools you will need some sort of hardenable steel (O1, W1, etc).  The heat treating process can be tricky.  You must be able to heat the subject item to the proper temperature and keep it there for the proper amount of time for its grain structure to stabilize throughout the part, then quench it in the appropriate medium (oil or water) to lock in that grain structure.  Make sure you agitate the part while quenching to ensure proper cooling.  Then if using a torch for heat you must polish the part so that you can identify the color you want when tempering.  If you have an oven that can reach tempering temperature that would be better.  As far as heat treating goes a visit to your local library and reading all you can on the subject will help immensely.


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## BGHansen (Jun 19, 2019)

I use O1 drill rod for punches and dies and most other tools that need to be tough (actually doing the work, not just holding the tool doing the work).  Have heat treating capability with a couple of Thermolyne muffle furnaces.  You can heat treat with a torch and toaster oven too.

Heat treating the steel will not make it stiffer or more rigid.  On high carbon steels it will raise the point that the tool permanently bends at, but the plot of stress vs. strain for steels is pretty much the same regardless of the alloy.  You can make the tool stiffer by using carbide (about triple the stiffness factor) or by increasing the size (bigger moment of inertia).

Bruce


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## astjp2 (Jun 19, 2019)

Better quality steels typically tend to wear better, I prefer a 41 or a 43 series series steel for many things.  If they are hardened, there is less of a chance for galling in the chuck, etc.  That is my opinion.  I would not use them for cutters, but they do good for tool holding.  Tim


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## dulltool17 (Jun 19, 2019)

astjp2 said:


> Better quality steels typically tend to wear better, I prefer a 41 or a 43 series series steel for many things.  If they are hardened, there is less of a chance for galling in the chuck, etc.  That is my opinion.  I would not use them for cutters, but they do good for tool holding.  Tim



Agreed!  4140 and 4350 are great choices.


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## Larry42 (Jun 19, 2019)

If you are going to use these tool holders in a commercial/production environment the use of higher strength steels may be justified. I find it hard to believe they are justified for the hobbyist. Heat treating seems beyond necessary and if not well controlled may actually cause more harm than good.


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## jdedmon91 (Jun 19, 2019)

If your home shop for QC blocks and such. I use what’s handy. My homemade tool blocks that I use a block of A36 structural steel. My fly cutter holder is 8620 because I had a piece of material of it 

I had good results with each 


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## rgray (Jun 19, 2019)

jdedmon91 said:


> My fly cutter holder is 8620 because I had a piece of material of it



Also awesome stuff there. And heat treatable.


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## jdedmon91 (Jun 20, 2019)

Yep, it’s good stuff, I have a small amount of stock. It was scrap parts from Eaton Transmission I got before I retired 


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## jdedmon91 (Jun 20, 2019)

Starting on a custom boring bar holder for my QCTP. I received a boring bar, from Soild Rock Machine. I like to have my bars set up in each of their own block, so I machine custom block so the boring bar is supported 360%. Also it won’t be much thicker than a standard block, so it’s close to the tool post.

I have a piece of A36 that I got out of the scrap bin at the local Metal Supermarket. So today I sawed of a piece off today and squared it up, so I’m working on finishing it up. I post pictures when I finish, and get a video together on it.

If I get material inexpensively I’ll use it. It’s plenty strong enough for my BXA size tooling. 


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## Ulma Doctor (Jun 20, 2019)

steels with an L in the numbers, i.e. 11L14, 12L13,& 12L14 are free machining steels.
they contain lead, they are *NOT *suitable for hardening, or welding for that matter.

but, i have made many tools form 12L14. it is wonderful to machine 

most times we want tough tools. 
for the sake of argument, most steels are suitable enough for the purposes of general tool making (sans esoteric demands)

don't confuse hardness and toughness, they are 2 different properties
you can make steel hard like glass, but it has to be tempered for it to become tough

the best steel is whatever you can get a hold of.

i have made many projects from steels that i have no idea of the composition- "Unkownium" 

if you have carbide inserts or brazed carbide, you can get through most materials- steel or otherwise.


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## jdedmon91 (Jun 21, 2019)

Follow up to my post. Just finished the tool block up for my gifted boring bar. Not bad for a hunk of steel out of Metal Supermarkets scrap bin. I think it was A36 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			









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## bakrch (Jun 21, 2019)

We use a lot of 17-4PH in the energy industry, so we tend to use that since there is so many bar ends laying around.  Can't tell you how many 2-3" diameter boring bars we've made (1/2 shank tooling with cpgm inserts typically used to reduce cutting forces), but they work really well. Most are treated H1075, but there are a few H900 and I can't really tell much of a difference in the performance, just the 900 is more of a pain to drill into.


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