Hi

I inherited a number of carbide pieces (says carbide tantalum on the
box) like carbide inserts but in mainly square form, ranging from
smaller than your little finger nail to three times that size.

Obviously they are meant to be brazed onto a carrier - are thy still
relevant in the world of indexable inserts as they will need quite a
bit of grinding to shape them - is it very difficult
to grind them ??

I am a novice metal worker with a Myford and a Rong Fu desk top mill

thanks
TNT

TMN wrote:
Hi

I inherited a number of carbide pieces (says carbide tantalum on the
box) like carbide inserts but in mainly square form, ranging from
smaller than your little finger nail to three times that size.

Obviously they are meant to be brazed onto a carrier - are thy still
relevant in the world of indexable inserts as they will need quite a
bit of grinding to shape them - is it very difficult
to grind them ??

I am a novice metal worker with a Myford and a Rong Fu desk top mill

thanks
TNT
Carbide is easily shaped with a diamond wheel or (if you have the patience)
a diamond file/hone.
Having said that - you (as a novice) should put those pieces in a bag and
put that bag in a safe place against the day when (as a more experienced
machinist) you undertand their appropriate uses.

Regards.
Ken.
--
Volunteer your idle computer time for cancer research
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How big. Many pieces are clamped to the holder.
Any holes ? what are the shapes.

These might be worth something - to someone - how about a part number and company ?

Martin

Martin Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
NRA LOH & Endowment Member
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member


TMN wrote:
Hi

I inherited a number of carbide pieces (says carbide tantalum on the
box) like carbide inserts but in mainly square form, ranging from
smaller than your little finger nail to three times that size.

Obviously they are meant to be brazed onto a carrier - are thy still
relevant in the world of indexable inserts as they will need quite a
bit of grinding to shape them - is it very difficult
to grind them ??

I am a novice metal worker with a Myford and a Rong Fu desk top mill

thanks
TNT


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Those inserts could be worth $2 - $10 each new. If they are tungsten
carbide with tantalum carbide in it they are worth about $5 per pound
as scrap maybe more. You can call Emily here and she will tell you.
(These are estimates but I am pretty comfortable with them.)

Solid Tantalum carbide would be a bit unusual. Tungsten carbide with
Tantalum carbide in it would be much more common. My guess is that
the supplier used tantalum carbide much as some use 'vitamin
enriched" on orange juice. It is still mostly orange juice.

The Cemented Carbide Producers Association ( ccpa.org ) has many
publications explaining how things are named, etc. It is a very slow
web site.

Personally I have Kennametal lathe and milling tooling catalogs that I
find very handy for this.

Carbide shapes go in and out of fashion but yours are probably still
good. Before you grind them you might want to consider using them as
is. They may have been meant to be used as wear parts as well. I
agree with Ken Davey but it takes a high skill level to grind them or a
great deal of patience to use a hand file.

tom

Thanks for all the input.

Tim