I just stayed out of it until I saw Brian's note on tungsten. Through
the years I have machined about a little bit of every thing. I was a
tool room machinist for McDonnell Aircraft in the model and research
shop. Brian hit it right on the head when he said you can't do it on the
9" South Bend. We machined sinisterd tungsten for specimen holders for
the Plasma lab but pure tungsten is very difficult to machine. I do have
a question, has any one tried inserts in the G10 to hold the setscrews?
We used "Keencerts", in soft material like alum, fiberglass and
plastics. It would make it more secure I believe.
Rich, from the middle of Missouri
Subject: Re: Re rotary gap design
Original poster: "BRIAN FOLEY" <ka1bbg@xxxxxxxxxxx>
OK, we seem to be going round and round about tungsten. first it can and
is
machined but it must be annealed, the machines must be super strong and
the
cutting edges are usually diamond or diamond coated.
one such machine is Pnuemo air spindle lathe, it cuts all kinds of
exotic
materials to extreme flatness or shape such as mirrors for lasers etc.
to do anything in the home shop ordinary diamond wheels will grind and
cut
tungsten easily. cutting a necked slot into the od of a piece of
tungsten
and crimping a brass tube over it to hold it securly seems ideal. the
brass
could be pinned or locked into place. skip trying to machine tungsten on
the
old 9 inch south bend it just wont happen. cul brian f.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: Re rotary gap design
> Original poster: "Gerry Reynolds" <gerryreynolds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> MSC or Grizzly Industrial have carbide cutters and I believe diamond
> coated cutters. I dont know how tungsten carbide compares to pure
> tungsten in hardness but there may be a solution. Seems like a new
> file works to put a groove into 1/8 tungsten in preparation for
> "snapping" so I bet these cutters will work on tungsten.
>
> Gerry R
>
> >Original poster: BunnyKiller <bunikllr@xxxxxxx>
> >
> >Never have seen cutters that can do tungsten.. ( most cutters are
> >tungsten or compound with tungsten) grinding seems to be the most
> >feesible way to "machine" tungsten...
> >
> >Scot D
> >
> >
> >
> >Tesla list wrote:
> >
> >>Original poster: Vardan <vardan01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >>
> >>Hi,
> >>
> >>Is it possible to turn tungsten in a metal lathe (something a home
> >>shop would have)? I would guess McMaster would have the tools if
so.
> >>
> >>Cheers,
> >>
> >> Terry
> >>
> >
> >
> >