lazer cutting

[ps_bond]

I think the main faliure I've had came from the metal being thick enough,but not hard enough and then it was hard enough(a giant hacksaw blade) but not thick enough for the metal I was cutting, my first effort still works OK and that was a stainless steel coaster I had lying around.

Easiest way to solve that is get the right stuff to start with... Spheroidised annealed O1 tool steel is readily available from - for example - Cromwell Industrial Tools UK: Discount Prices For Power Tools, Hand Tools and Cutting Tools - Free Next Day Delivery as "ground flat stock". Cuts easily, a doddle to heat treat and very tolerant of mistakes on HT, so you can have another go if needed.

[Shaun750]

Easiest way to solve that is get the right stuff to start with... Spheroidised annealed O1 tool steel is readily available from - for example - Cromwell Industrial Tools UK: Discount Prices For Power Tools, Hand Tools and Cutting Tools - Free Next Day Delivery as "ground flat stock". Cuts easily, a doddle to heat treat and very tolerant of mistakes on HT, so you can have another go if needed.

Cheers for that Peter, I manged to get some tool steel from ebay and could only find companys that deliverd half ton at a time through googling,I've added Cromwell to my favorites,tht will come in handy.

[ps_bond]

If you're making punches & the like, they do the GFS in square section as well - they also have silver steel in useful diameters that is a doddle to heat treat. I keep buying it from them in 5' lengths...

You can buy directly from their depots - my nearest is down by the docks here - but for some of the materials they don't keep a full stock in all of their locations. Probably for the best, I can spend quite enough with them without seeing more shinies.

[Shaun750]

If you're making punches & the like, they do the GFS in square section as well - they also have silver steel in useful diameters that is a doddle to heat treat. I keep buying it from them in 5' lengths...

You can buy directly from their depots - my nearest is down by the docks here - but for some of the materials they don't keep a full stock in all of their locations. Probably for the best, I can spend quite enough with them without seeing more shinies.

Punches!! That's the next project,might have to actually do some hand engraving!! If i could stay awake for 24 hours I wouldn't mind spending the time.
If you don't mind what's your tecnique to temper them back to hard enough.
I know before i start, my mind will say as hard as possible,and shatter the punch,although I get a weird pleasure in testing something until destruction.

[ps_bond]

Punches!! That's the next project,might have to actually do some hand engraving!! If i could stay awake for 24 hours I wouldn't mind spending the time.

I know what you mean. Although you've just reminded me I need to sort out my spares of gravers that I've got sat unused.

If you don't mind what's your tecnique to temper them back to hard enough.
I know before i start, my mind will say as hard as possible,and shatter the punch,although I get a weird pleasure in testing something until destruction.

Well, clearly you recognise the balance between hard/brittle & soft/malleable. It depends on how I'm doing things - if I'm doing HT with a torch, I'll only harden the business end of the tool & try to leave the other end of the punch dead soft so there's no chance of it chipping; I'll also do a progressive temper on it, heating it some way back from the end and allowing the colours to travel along until it hits the colour I want, then quench again (to stop any more heat flowing). Tempering by oxide colour is *very* approximate and varies according to the steel type - but it's usually good enough. If I'm HT with the oven (kiln, not domestic) I just dial in the temperature & let it soak - that way the whole tool is at the same hardness.

This chart - Temper Colors and Steel Hardness : anvilfire.com - is OK as a start point, but don't expect the hardness to be all that close for O1 - it'll be slightly closer for the silver steel.

Oh, one thing - when you harden & quench, it's nice to have some sort of antiscale on the metal as you're doing it - this can be something exotic like Brownells PBC anti-scale compound, a wash of bentonite clay or... A bar of soap. Warm the steel a bit, rub the soap on it to coat the steel (if it's warm enough, the soap melts), then heat to read & quench. Makes cleanup much easier. And O1 - despite being an oil-hardening steel - can be successfully hardened in water in thin sections.

[Shaun750]

Thanks Peter you've done a lot of the hard work for me.
I've taken a few pics of the disasters and some success I've had (it's good for a laugh if nothing else).
I better start a new thread,I keep hijacking others,with tangent questions.
As usual I'm going ambitious from the outset,I was told that the die I tried to make would cost a $1000 ,by a company.

bentonite clay!!! I just chucked a big bag of it away.I found a recipe for green sand,and found out that a certain cat litter,was bentonite,It didn't work great.I don't tidy up very often,but when i do everything gets chucked!

[orestruck]

Al
I work for Carol Anne in Barnstaple (For my sins)

Sarah

[caroleallen]

Oh God Sarah, that's who I keep being mistaken for. Gets a bit awkward at times.

[geti-titanium]

Al
I work for Carol Anne in Barnstaple (For my sins)

Sarah

I guessed it might be - say hello to everyone for me :-) I had a broken leg the last time I came to you and I seem to remember climbing a really steep flight of stairs - frightened me to death coming down again! :-)

[Di Sandland]

Al
I work for Carol Anne in Barnstaple (For my sins)

Sarah

LOL - part of my ritual on the way back to the car park is to look at the indy stuff in the RH window. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's -err - not so good (was gonna use a bad word). Some people's finishing leaves a lot to be desired.