Any tips about turning A36?

[C-Bag]

The other day someone posted nice plans for a ball turner. The base plate is 1/2" thick 4"x4". Locally I have to buy a 5' long piece, yet on eBay I can buy a 12" long piece for $18 w/free shipping. But it's a36 and when I looked up how it was to machine I got all kinds of conflicting things. Mostly you should get different steel like a572 or 1018, or 1020, none of which seem to come in the dimensions I need. Am I over thinking this, or is a36 no big deal?

 

[jbolt]

A36 is hot rolled so the surface will be rough. It turns similar to 1018. Well ground and sharp HSS tooling is preferable unless you have a enough rigidity and power to use carbide. Some nose radius will help with finish.

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[Chipper5783]

Am I over thinking this, or is a36 no big deal?

Yes. All material has some peculiarities. It will cut just fine. As jbolt pointed out it is hot rolled, so there should not be much residual surface stress (i.e. as would be present in cold rolled material). When you take that surface off, it should remain pretty flat.

 

[Tony Wells]

You'll find it soft, and gummy if anything. Makes it a little hard to tap if your tap isn't quite sharp. A little tough to get a shine on just cutting it. Mostly because it is soft. And it does not heat treat. Not enough carbon. I use it fairly often for machining because I like the low residual stress, like the guys said. It's generally pretty cheap too, relative to the close cousins it has. You'll be fine with it.

If you have any fab shops around, you could probably get a drop for free or near so the size you need. They mostly would buy full sheets or bars, so would likely have something close enough that you could cut to your spec.

 

[C-Bag]

You'll find it soft, and gummy if anything.

If you have any fab shops around, you could probably get a drop for free or near so the size you need. They mostly would buy full sheets or bars, so would likely have something close enough that you could cut to your spec.

Thanks guys. This is what I kinda gathered and it seemed the gummy was mostly a problem for the CNC guys. So since I don't use much carbide all HSS I'll be fine. I'm just getting into the whole idea of paying attention to what the material is.

I'm used to doing everything with drops as where we lived used to manufacture on site so it was one big bone yard. Not where I am now, just the opposite. So I'm always on the lookout for scraps and drops. This is mostly a tourist area with little or no manufacturing and the two welding shops are 45min. away in either direction.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

A36 is no big deal to work with.
use sharp drills and taps and lotsa anchor lube or rigid dark cutting fluid

i like the anchor lube, it doesn't really smoke much and doesn't stink up everything it touches

 

[C-Bag]

Oil and lubes are like fasteners, I'm always discovering a new one. So Doc, you use Anchor lube for drilling and tapping better than Tap magic? Do you use it on the lathe for cutting too? Always looking for something that's not petro based and non toxic. The website doesn't say what it is, only that it's not oil based.

 

[Tony Wells]

They will send you a small squeeze bottle for free just to try it. It's good stuff, though I haven't switched over to it completely.

 

[C-Bag]

Thanks! I ordered a free bottle.

 

[Chuck K]

As long as you realize that the surface finish will be ugly and you have plenty of emory cloth, A36 is fine. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why my finish was so bad as a newbie when using A36.