Are strings a good thing?

1018 is standard weldable steel. It's on the soft side, but does not easily provide a good finish, and Hss cutters work best for me.
 
Chip breakers in your cutting tools help, in addition to your feeds and speeds. Long strings get messy and tend to pick up swarf as it goes... hands away!

Tech note on 12L14: It is perfectly weldable, but toxic. Weld temps are well beyond the vaporization point for lead, guaranteeing an easily-inhalable form of lead for your toxic metal freebasing pleasure. It's easier for manufacturers, suppliers, and their lawyers to call it a non-weldable product. Don't do it without a welder's PAPR respirator plus a welding fume evac system at minimum, and stick with low hydrogen filler alloys.
 
pontiac428 said:
Chip breakers in your cutting tools help, in addition to your feeds and speeds. Long strings get messy and tend to pick up swarf as it goes... hands away!

Tech note on 12L14: It is perfectly weldable, but toxic. Weld temps are well beyond the vaporization point for lead, guaranteeing an easily-inhalable form of lead for your toxic metal freebasing pleasure. It's easier for manufacturers, suppliers, and their lawyers to call it a non-weldable product. Don't do it without a welder's PAPR respirator plus a welding fume evac system at minimum, and stick with low hydrogen filler alloys.
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Thank you for posting that. I just welded some 12L14 without even thinking about it. Oops. TIG welded fine by the way.
Robert
 
I welded a 1" hex chunk to a 1018 rod as an extension for a 5 lb slide hammer puller. My son beat the heck out of it for two days and it never had a problem. Still using it. I did use 7018 and had a hefty fan blowing the smoke/fumes outside away from me. I would not do it again though. Too much risk of lead poisoning. I threaded the 5/8" rod that it was welded to and I was more surprised the threads held up, along with a 5/8 coupler.

Roy
 
1018 is good basic universal steel, you can use it for lots of things. It will polish up pretty nice with emery cloth if you need a shiny surface.
1036 is stronger (has more carbon in it) but sometimes a little harder to find
Mark
 
Ditto on all the safety stuff. I control strings with a hook made of very thin rod so if anything goes south, it won't beat up my lathe or me, but just bend.

On strings with soft steel. Most chip breakers won't break a chip in 12L14 or 1018, and that's okay. Sometimes you have to put up with strings to get a good finish. Just don't let them pile up too much or something --bad-- will happen.
 
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