Machinist

674 readers

1 users here now

From Newcomers to Old Timers, a community united by the Industry of Machining

Rules Don't post illegal stuff

Don't post Porn (no sexy aluminum surface finishes don't count)

Don't be an asshat (harassment, bullying etc.)

If you're going to post NSFW stuff, flag it as NSFW, It's ok to post shop Screwups (blood/cuts) just make sure to flag it as NSFW

and Finally make sure to have a good time :D

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Stainless Steel Spikes (electrodes) (lemmy.ca)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey folks, pardon the rookie question. We need to build a few hundred of these per year, so I thought I'd tool up, and wanted to figure out how to do this "cheaply".

Parameters. Stainless steel rods, with one end sharpened to a point, and the other end deburred. Typically 30cm long with no real tolerance issues, and no real parameters on the point other than "if you hit it with a hammer, you should be able to drive them into the earth." Typically made of 3/8" or 1/2" stainless.

My main problem is: stainless is fucking hard and destroys my bench grinder when grinding tips onto it. Is there a better grinder I could be using? Or perhaps I should be cutting these on a small lathe?

Also, when I buy stainless stock, I usually have the metal wholesaler cut them to length for us, but they charge quite a bit. The stainless destroys my bandsaw blades, so perhaps there is a better option? Is there a mitre saw blade that is rated for stainless? Or should I also be using a parting tool on a lathe here?

Thoughts are appreciated. Such a simple thing, but stainless so...

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

You're very welcome, glad to help! I've not had to work with stainless too much in my job, but I did take some decent material science courses on my way to becoming a mechanical engineer- and quickly applied them to actual machining.

The pyramidal point may work, but rotary saw blades may want to deflect and start rubbing when going diagonal across a round cross section, especially one so small. It ends up being a pretty small bit to cut. It's worth trying though, as it'd really reduce the amount of labor and tooling you'd have to put into this.