On Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:09:21 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Aug 31, 11:13*am, "Kelly Jones" wrote:
Hi all.

I'm trying to make a hit and miss engine from plans. *I went down to the
local steel supply company the other day and bought a remnant of 1" X 6" X
26" plate. *Asked for and was told it was hot rolled steel.

Took half an hour to cut it on the band saw. *Loaded the 6" X 6" work piece
on the lathe and started to turn it for one of the flywheels using HSS tool
and 60 RPM, very small feed and depth of cut. *Shook the whole building.

Moved it to the milling machine and started to try to cut the corners off
with similar results. *Made sure I had a new cutter. Small depth of cut
(about 30 thou) and very low feed. *The mill complains mightily.

I am thinking the piece was cut with a plasma torch and is now locally heat
treated (very hard).

Thought about lighting a charcoal fire and throwing it in for a few hours to
see if I could anneal it myself. *Any other thoughts?
thanks

"Hot-rolled" and "cold-rolled" are actually finishes, not steel
grades. 1018, 1060 and 1090 are typical steel grade designations and
can be had in both hot-rolled and cold-rolled finishes. What you
really wanted was mild steel, like 1018, in a hot-rolled finish. When
you're shopping the drop boxes, it's hard to say what you'll get.
Probably what you got was somebody's pre-hardened plate remnants. If
it's a straight carbon steel, you'll be able to anneal it the way you
describe. If it's something fancy, like an air-hardening alloy, that
won't do it. Sometimes mystery metal isn't a bargain.

Stan


Indeed. I grabbed some 3/8' x 3" by 12" rems

Took em home to make some brackets. Stripped the teeth off a new
bandsaw. WTF?

Put it on the grinder..bright white sparks...wtf

Used the hardness tester...RC 55 aprox

Freaking 20 lbs of D2.....sign....

Too thinck to make knives out of without milling em thinner..did made
some splatter scrappers for MIG welding though.

I got my moneys worth...on stuff I couldnt use for much. Still got
some kicking around..might make some custome shaper tooling out of it

Gunner

"Confiscating wealth from those who have earned it, inherited it,
or got lucky is never going to help 'the poor.' Poverty isn't
caused by some people having more money than others, just as obesity
isn't caused by McDonald's serving super-sized orders of French fries
Poverty, like obesity, is caused by the life choices that dictate
results." - John Tucci,