# New lathe steel



## Torbo (Oct 13, 2014)

Some days ago I changed a wheel bearing. 
It is in hard metal, so I tried to make a lathe tool. 
I worked in low carbon steel, but in harder steel it did not work so well. The steel was rounded at the edge. 

What is the difference in HSS steel and bearing steel?


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## Ulma Doctor (Oct 13, 2014)

HSS steel has tungsten,vanadium and/or cobalt added to it's alloy dependent on grade.

bearing steels don't really have those metals in their alloys they have more nickel, chromium,and silicon for the most part.


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## Torbo (Oct 14, 2014)

It was ok in normal low carbon steel, 
But it was an experiment.


I can ute it carefully to cheep iron, or what you call It?


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## Andre (Oct 14, 2014)

Bearing material is not tool or high speed steel. Get some proper high speed steel, it's dirt cheap and will preform much better.


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## BRIAN (Oct 15, 2014)

Hi Torbo
 I like your experiment ,nothing wrong with trying something new, did you weld the bearing material to the tool shank? if so you may have changed its hardness.

Brian


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## Torbo (Oct 15, 2014)

I welded the bit to a normal steel holder with brass/bronze - yellow rod, but i don't know the name on it. I use that to cast iron to.

I put the bit i water so it get hardened. 
After grinding I let the temperature go to 280 degree an put it in the water again. Then i got the best harden, i think?


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## Rbeckett (Oct 15, 2014)

The main difference between HSS and bearing material is the Rockwell hardness of the materials  A bearing race is brittle as glass but nearly impervious to wear, Hss will wear so it is lesslikely to shatter or require heat treating unless you braze it on a blank.  No harm in trying something different, just once you discover it is a dead end come back to what you know works and go from there.  

Bob


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## DMS (Oct 16, 2014)

Bearing steel is generally good quality, high-carbon, chrome steel. It will get very hard, and is highly wear resistant. It's probably better than what was used in the "good old days" before the invention of high speed steel. In order to use it though, you are going to have to cut down the speed to about 1/3 of what you would use with HSS. 

Basically HSS was created to improve machining rates. The addition of tungsten (the first HSS was based on tungsten), increases the hardening and temperature of steel, as well as the "hot strength" (IE, the strength when hot). This lets you run much faster without loosing temper, which is the main issue you will have running carbon steel at HSS speeds.

Tungsten Carbide of course is much more resistant to heat than HSS, so you can go much faster (IE, make more $$$ if you are in a production environment).

I would also recommend picking up some HSS blanks, they are fairly cheap. If you still want to experiment with that bearing steel, you may be able to find more information on hardening/tempering it. If you are just trying to save some money, you can get HSS blanks for a couple dollars, so you may want to look for other places to safe a few.


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## Torbo (Oct 16, 2014)

Thanks! Yes, to day I will do something else. Do somethings with a Volvo. Fix the rims and wheel om my Duett:Some pictures 
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
 (her fant jeg 2 mm kast) 
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
  shims mellom trommel og spacer: 
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
Then I know how much i can grind of in the inner side


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