[How-To] Milling Stainless steel

[Qmavam]

I think I'll rethink this!
Mikek

 

[pontiac428]

Inconel almost qualifies as a stainless steel, except without the iron element.

I don't like mystery metal. Too many unknowns. Mystery stainless is the worst of all, 304 and 316 can make me feel like a n00b sometimes-the stuff work hardens under any cutting edge that's not feeding in at an aggressive rate.

I go well out of my way to identify and label ALL scrap in my shop. Mystery metal gets its own bucket that I can use if I wake up one morning and feel like cruisin' for a bruising, but I wouldn't hang a whole project on a piece of scrap I have being the right kind. I've had commercial equipment that I welded fail because (oops) the steel wasn't what it seemed to be. That's not a good feeling!

 

[Karl_T]

do you need an excuse to buy another tool?

This saw has blades for all metals

Evolution Circular Saws

store.evolutionpowertools.com

 

[Qmavam]

I hope my next tool to be a lathe. I should just buy it, I'll just be spending the kids inheritance, but after 35 years
of frugalness it's hard to stop.

 

[Eyerelief]

Inconel is harder than a whores heart, the angle grinder should work but cleaning it up with an end mill would require carbide I would think

 

[mmcmdl]

Inconel ? It's tougher than a $2.00 steak .

Here was a small inconel project from years past . It explains it all . Not impossible to machine , but ranks way up there on the badass scale .

Old project pics . Lets see yours !

Rummaging thru the stuff cleaning up and found some older pics . Pre 1999 , so OK to post . I'm going to keep these at hand as they might just come in handy next week for a few interviews . :p Anyway , these were some very noteworthy projects over the early years of the career . Lets see some of...

www.hobby-machinist.com

 

[wayback machine]

Plasma cutter, and a piece of straight angle for a guide ?

 

[tq60]

We cut 1 inch soft steel with 1/2 Ed mill in a BP mill.

Pain big time.

Find someone with a cold saw and pay them to cut it.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[Eddyde]

An angle grinder with a cutoff disc, guided by a straightedge , done carefully, can give a very clean cut. Depending on the accuracy required It may not even require milling. If they do need to be milled, you can stack the parts horizontally in the vise and mill one side of them all at once, flip them and mill the other side. You can use and end-mill, face-mill or even a fly-cuter.

 

[aliva]

Inconel ? It's tougher than a $2.00 steak .

I doubt if a hobby machinist would run into Inconel. Not all that common except in high temp and pressure applications.
Fun fact Inconel was developed by The International Nickel Company. Ltd. ( INCO) My father worked for them for 33 years I worked for them for 27 years.