Drill Rod

Pmedic828

Pmedic828

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Can anyone answer my question on drill rod - I understand that different types of steel are quenched in air, water, and oil. Is drill rod soft when you purchase it and then you harden it or is it hard from the factory. I wanted some smooth rod to use as a guide for a spring so I purchased some 1/2 drill rod - I wanted to thread about 1 inch on each end so I can place a washer and nut to capture the spring. Can drill rod be threaded or drilled with a standard die, tap, and HSS Drill Bit? Thanks for your replies.....
 
I've only used 01 drill rod so far, but it was always soft when I purchased it. Machines pretty nice w/HSS and no problems threading with my cheap tap/die set.
 
Drill rod is soft when purchased. Ordinary HSS will cut it, cutting speed would a little bit less than mild steel.

Sent from my D5106 using Tapatalk
 
What's the difference between oil and water hardening drill rod?
 
Oil hardened is the easiest to machine IMO. If you want to use the drill rod without hardening I would use water hardening, not as friendly to machine as Oil Hardening but is certainly harder in its original shape.

cheers
michael
 
Thanks, Michael. Oil hardening rod is also less expensive.
 
Franko said:
What's the difference between oil and water hardening drill rod?
Click to expand...
As I recall from my blacksmithing days, W1 was an earlier steel used by blacksmiths to make tools. It tended to have greater distortion during the heat treating process. O1 is less prone to distortion and therefore preferred for precision tools. Chemically, W1 has about 1% carbon, .2% silicon, and .4% manganese. O1 has about .95% carbon, 1.2% manganese, .5% silicon, .5% chromium, and .5% tungsten. O1 can attain a higher ultimate hardness, around Rc 65 vs. Rc 60 for W1. O1 is also supposiedly tougher than W1. IMO, O1 is a better choice for tools.

Bob
 
from my research, w-1 is listed as 100% machinability compared to 1212 carbon and o-1 is listed as 66-70% Where I am in Canada the w ( water quench ) is about 2/3 the price of o-1. The w-1 is a little less dimensionally stable when hardened, but for most things I really do not think it will show in most of our projects. Just my thoughts YMMV.
 
Franko said:
What's the difference between oil and water hardening drill rod?
Click to expand...
Not to be pedantic here (-: but the difference between easily available tool steels is the recommended hardening method, D is often oil hardening, W is water hardening, A is air hardening, they all serve different purposes in use as actual tools, I have little personal experience with the finishing end of these materials, the heat treatment part. However I have been required to machine all 3 in the annealed and sometimes hardened state in the past including PH stainless, this morning I drilled a 9/16" hole in 440 stainless rounds, 12" deep, twice, 1 1/2 hours or more per hole.

Tomorrow is hard turning, +50 Rockwell C, ceramic inserts and no coolant allowed which is nice.
 
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