In article ,
ess says...
On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 16:41:41 -0500, Jon Elson
wrote:

I think you are getting warm! It sounds like hard Chromed shafting. It
is nearly
impossible to machine, but can be ground nicely. It may look like SS, but
one giveaway to some pieces is the mirror ground finish.

It's not hard-chromed, I cut it to length and even a facing cut just
knocks the tooling about something awful.

I don't think it's one of the high-nickel alloys either. I've
machined a little Inconel before and although it's nastier than 316
stainless, it's nowhere near as bad as this.

I'm glad I didn't try to mill any of it -- it would have trashed my
cutters in no-time flat. At least on the lathe I was able to regrind
the tooling until I figured I was wasting my time.

Could it have been drawn or rolled so as to make the whole thing
work-hardened right through perhaps? In that case, would annealing it
make any difference -- does annealing relieve work-hardening?


Armco Nitronic 50 or Nitronic 60 is another possibility.
It's non-magnetic, very tough, and nasty to machine. It's
often used for pump shafts in corrosive media and for prop
shafts. It's been a long time, but I think recommended
cutting speeds are about half that of 304/316.

Ned Simmons