On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 21:46:01 -0700, "azotic" wrote:


"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
in.local...
In article ,
says...

"Tim" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 01:51:40 -0400, J. Clarke wrote:

First, this post is going to be somewhat vague as I'm under an NDA
and
can't give much detail.

That said, I have a need to cut 1/16" to 1/4" thick slices off of
irregularly shaped objects composed of 5-10 percent nickel, 1-2
percent
carbon, a few trace elements, and the rest iron. Annealing is not an
option--they have to be cut as is. The objects may be somehwere in
the
range of 1 to 5 inches in diameter. The kerf has to be as narrow as
possible.

So far I've been using a diamond lapidary blade and oil coolant but
it's
really slow going and judging from the noises it makes the saw is not
happy. It'll cut through a lump of slag in a minute or so, but one
of
these puppies takes a half an hour with the same setup.

I was wondering if anybody had any ideas on a better way to go.

Wire EDM? It'll still take time, but the kerf will be narrow!

Wire EDM can slab it off at around 25 in.^2/hr., with a kerf on the
order of
0.020 in. At those speeds, you'll have a heat-affected zone a couple of
thousanths deep, so that may be a consideration.

Interesting thought, but sounds expensive. I don't think we've got the
budget for it.

I don't know what shop time is on a wire EDM these days. It was $45/hour
last time I looked, but that was quite a while ago.

--
Ed Huntress

Perhaps it could be sliced with an abrasive water jet. That might cost less
than EDM.

Best Regards
Tom.

That or laser. Either would be faster and cheaper than EDM


--
Maxim 12: A soft answer turneth away wrath.
Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.