Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Hardinge Conversions

Joe Vicars wrote:

> Doug, you are absolutely right about the above statement. I am right now making a bill of material so see if the MATERIAL cost can
> be kept under 1000 bucks. I am not billing for my labor and I have a friend who is going to finish grind the parts for me after I
> do the cutting.
> I am looking at SAE 4142 Pre-Hard ground stock for most of the parts and I was hoping not to have to stress relieve them, or do too
> much grinding. Anyone have experience with this? Any advice?

I'm not sure why steel is a reasonable material for this sort of
construction. Lathes and cross slides, tailstocks, etc., are
generally made out of good cast iron in the first place. Cast
iron is pretty cheap and comes in rectangular sections. All the
small stuff will have to be made out of different materials, but
the base and cross slide in both X and Z could be cast iron.

As a suggestion, check out: http://www.metalmart.com/ who are a
subsidiary of Castle Metals selling small orders. They carry the
Dura-bar brand of cast iron by Wells Mfg Co. You can check the
characteristics of continuous cast iron at:
http://www.dura-bar.com/index.cfm.

Of course, I am not saying that post processing of the metal will
not be required by using cast iron, but cast iron isn't as
expensive as any sort of ground stock. Continuous cast cast-iron
is fairly well stress relieved to begin with. I've made stuff
from it that has not required any post processing, but that will
depend on the machining done. It is conceivable that an ordinary
home oven at 450-500 deg F would be enough to stress relieve
continuous cast iron before final machining.

Anyway, my thoughts from some experience....

JerryK