Hey Guys,
I have another metal working question. Is it safe to cut steel on the Logan lathe? I have only ever cut Aluminum on a lathe. I know steel can be harder to work with. I don’t want to damage anything. Thanks for all the answers you guys have been giving me!
I’m no expert but you can certainly cut steel on either the Logan or Craftsman lathes. Just need to use the appropriate tools, feeds and speeds. Lots of good Youtube videos out there on different projects on lathes. A series I learned a lot from is the Blondihacks videoes.
Most grades of steel should be fine on the lathe and mill, unless they’re hardened tool steel. That might be a challenge…
The steel I picked up at the yard last week was supposed to be 1018. It was not. After welding it, lots of Sparks, and several carbide inserts later, I did get the part made to a usable condition but definitely not to spec. That was not on the lathes at makeict, of course.
Seems like you would benefit from a mentor. What kind of steel." Steel " covers a lot of chemistries. Hard, soft, free-cutting, HRS, CRS, tool steel in different varieties, mystery metal. Knowing that also will help determine what will happen when you machine it. CRS, for example, needs to be roughed first, or should be anyway, so that most of its movement is done before finish passes.
David, I use Blondihacks on Youtube for learning too, great channel. Also, I am an entry level engineer, but I work mainly with Aluminum, and thats where most of my experience is. I could always use mentors being new to all of this. I appreciate the replies to all the answers you guys are giving. I was thinking about trying to machine and knurl some small #10 steel bushings for pressing into 3d printed drill jigs. I could use a handful of them, but they run at like $5+ a piece, and could easily be lost. Plus, I could use some more knurling practice.
@MichaelArnao In my experience, most of the time bushings for drill jigs are hardened and ground. But that’s mostly for industrial use too, so if you’re making drill jigs for occasional use, making them from steel that isn’t heat treated should last quite a while. Of course, if they did wear out you could always make another one to replace the worn bushing. Then you could re-drill and ream the old one for a larger size drill bit and another jig. I’m still not totally familiar with the machine shop at MakeICT, but I don’t think there is a good way to machine hardened steel there.