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The Blooding of the (metal) lathe

Jimjam66

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So the first thing off my new lathe is a 7.4mm x 0.5mm tap, for some of the delectable nib/feed units I recently acquired from PeteB. I can't pretend I'm a fully-fledged machinist now, but am I ever chuffed that it works! It's tool steel, so now I have to heat it up and quench it to harden it. Anyone done this before and got some tips?

photo.JPG
 

Terry

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So the first thing off my new lathe is a 7.4mm x 0.5mm tap, for some of the delectable nib/feed units I recently acquired from PeteB. I can't pretend I'm a fully-fledged machinist now, but am I ever chuffed that it works! It's tool steel, so now I have to heat it up and quench it to harden it. Anyone done this before and got some tips?

View attachment 646

I did hardening and tempering when I was an apprentice and you need to heat the steel to a cherry red and then quench it quickly in water that is off cold. Pull the steel out quickly after plunging in the water or oil and clean the part that has been heated. Watch the colours ( light straw- dark straw-purple and blue travel toward the tip of the tool. Quench the steel in oil when light straw reaches the tip ( light straw is the hardest colour without being brittle and blue the softest ). Leave in the oil till cool. Job done!!! Oil is better than water as water can create internal cracks in the metal as it shocks the metal!!!
Hope this helps!!!
 

Jimjam66

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Thanks Terry. I'll probably mess it up first time, but I'll persevere ...

... It's mostly going to thread acrylic anyway, so I won't lose too much sleep if its not as hard as it could be.
 

Terry

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Thanks Terry. I'll probably mess it up first time, but I'll persevere ...

... It's mostly going to thread acrylic anyway, so I won't lose too much sleep if its not as hard as it could be.

Just remember when doing the second stage (tempering) blue is the softest but toughest! purple is harder but tough( cold chisels) dark straw is harder but less tough ( screwdrivers) and light straw is hardest but least tough ( woodworking chisels )
 

clumsysod

GOBBY GIT
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Grantham
Well done David an admirable job mate, I am well impressed with that.
Terry's description of H&T is spot on too.
:thinks:
 
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