Nightmare Materials

[verbotenwhisky]

I am not a fan of 300 series stainless.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

I am not a fan of 300 series stainless.

303 is highly machineable
304 not so much

 

[MrWhoopee]

Machining Ampco 18 is only mildly irritating, 22 is a big pain in the ass.

I found it to be more than "mildly irritating", but then I've never done 22. I still remember the "squeeeeeek" when tapping, and the corners chipping if you milled the wrong direction.

 

[MrWhoopee]

I am not a fan of 300 series stainless.

I'll take 303 over almost anything except 12L14/1215 and 416. You can keep the 304.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

1086, 4340, and D2 steels are not friendly

I work with A-2/D-2 fairly often.


The key is to understand that this stuff will work harden on you if you let it get too hot. A-2 not so much, but D-2 is just waiting for you to go too hard.

Peck drilling, taking light cuts with plenty of coolant, and tapping/reaming slowly with plenty of oil is the way.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

I'll take 303 over almost anything except 12L14/1215 and 416. You can keep the 304.

I have cut 304 and 316 and do not like either...

 

[FZR1KG]

303 is highly machineable
304 not so much

Sounds like I need to git me some 303.
Reminds me of Lee-Enfield so it must be good stuff! lol

 

[FZR1KG]

Double post

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Sounds like I need to git me some 303.
Reminds me of Lee-Enfield so it must be good stuff! lol

It doesn’t seem to work harden and can be cut with HSS tooling

 

[FZR1KG]

It doesn’t seem to work harden and can be cut with HSS tooling

It's weird in that I had no issues with 316 or 304 on the Sherline, big problems on the Vevor (at least initially), and I tried 304 on the SB9A I just got working and it cut it with ease. Of course, these are small diameter jobs and I've yet to see how the SB will work with a larger chunk. It's just that I rarely use large diameter SS for anything. No idea if that makes a difference or not...