Turning cast iron.

[benmychree]

Did you have a dust mask on or are your boggies going "donk" when they land ?



I've read old timers used to use water as flood just to keep the dust down.

Stu

I suppose they were rewarded by rust for their irrigation, not to mention cobbles of rusty clumps of chips.

 

[stupoty]

I suppose they were rewarded by rust for their irrigation, not to mention cobbles of rusty clumps of chips.

I would have thought the heat of the part would help it evaporate quite quickly.

You wouldn't want to leave the chips in a pool of water for sure though. You could probably just run very very dilute water soluble oil coolant and clean up well.

Maybe they just turned off the water for the finish cuts. ?

If you do any reasonable amount of iron turning you will definitely find something to control the dust.

Every time i have worked with any I have ended up de-greasing/cleaning and then re oiling all the surfaces. For small parts I use a water soaked rag under the work piece to catch the worst of it that falls. Still end up with massive clean up after.

Stu

 

[GeneT45]

Everything @benmychree said. Cut dry. I prefer HSS in cast iron, but would cut dry with carbide as well.

GsT

 

[RaisedByWolves]

so I was cutting this cast iron backing plate, first time cutting cast iron, I think. have drilled plenty in the past. I was brushing oil on it as I usually do, then realized it didn't seem necessary at all. def figured out quickly to use a low rpm, was throwing nuggets everywhere at first LOL. started at 8" diameter and reduced it to 5.75. was running at 197 RPM's, carbide insert. did some googling about cutting cast iron with or without oil, saw a bunch of arguments online about the subject. quite a few guys say they cut everything dry with carbide, including steel. seems like heat would be an issue if you take big cuts. it sure is some messy stuff.

any opinions? thanks.

View attachment 492548

I cut everything dry, period. Maybe some cutting oil for a good finish, but that’s about it.

If the part is getting hot I’ll douse it with 70/30 coolant alcohol mix (don’t tell EHS) between cuts to cool it.

Much less mess this way and no Stripe O Shame on your shirt.

Oh, and I can smell your video from here.

IYKYK

 

[yota]

you smelling the cast iron dust? wasn't oil cause I was cutting dry by that point

 

[Larry$]

I've tried a hood with vacuum, I've tried various speeds/feeds, always dry. Deep cuts produce less dust but less is still a mess. But no matter what, I hate machining the stuff.

 

[682bear]

The last time I machined a backplate, I held a shop vacuum nozzle over the tool... it worked very well to eliminate the dust and made post-machining cleanup very easy.

That was the first time I had machined cast iron without smelling and tasting it for a couple of days afterward.

-Bear

 

[Firstram]

If you can turn in reverse with an upside down tool, all of the swarf is thrown down instead of all over the place!

 

[T Bredehoft]

I spent my apprenticeship in a disk brake factory, (Kelsey Hayes). EVERYTHING was cut under a flood of water. And still there was dust everywhere. My first machining job was running two (front to front) Gilman/Gisholt vertical lathes. Load and start one lathe, take the finished part out of the other, load and start it, take the finished....you get the idea. This op did a second turn on the discs themselves. They went from my (and other ) machines to a grinder. Each machine had shrouding but the operator ended up wet and black.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

you smelling the cast iron dust? wasn't oil cause I was cutting dry by that point

Iron dust.

That **** gets in your nose and throat and you can taste it the next morning.