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Vascomax350 Maraging steel as a tail stock quill
- Thread starter legoboy
- Start date
- Replies 14
- Views 1,370
rklopp
Diamond
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2001
- Location
- Redwood City, CA USA
Maraging 350 should make a great TS quill, provided you have the tools to machine it and facility to age-harden it. You may be able to machine it close to final size, if not final size, and then age and not have it warp. You'll have to look up whether a size change is expected on the diameter after aging. If you have access to a cylindrical grinder, great. If not, you can lap the OD, but finishing the taper socket in the hardened state will be a problem without an internal grinder. The material is very expensive, but has really nice mechanical properties, and it takes on a nice oxide finish that is resistant to atmospheric corrosion. You are lucky to have it.
Cole2534
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2010
- Location
- Oklahoma City, OK
That's one hellaciously expensive material to use for a lathe quill, $750 for a 2" x 12" rod.
Milland
Diamond
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2006
- Location
- Hillsboro, New Hampshire
Is it the cobalt that makes it so costly, or just cause "they can"?
plastikdreams
Diamond
- Joined
- May 31, 2011
- Location
- upstate nj
Yup, what machine is this for ?
A 7 x 12 HF ?....
Hey if you got it use it...right
Sounds like it's good stuff but may be a bit overkill.
Cole2534
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2010
- Location
- Oklahoma City, OK
Probably a lot of both.
It would be a waste of expensive material. Vascomax's niche is where very high strength is needed, or high strength to weight. A tailstock needs neither.
In a tailstock surface hardness is important to keep from scarring the taper. Rigidity is important, but the only practical means to increase rigidity is a larger diameter. Case hardened 1018 would do just as well as Vascomax, but I would probably use a pre hard and skip the heat treatment given the low value of the lathe.
In a tailstock surface hardness is important to keep from scarring the taper. Rigidity is important, but the only practical means to increase rigidity is a larger diameter. Case hardened 1018 would do just as well as Vascomax, but I would probably use a pre hard and skip the heat treatment given the low value of the lathe.
So I will probably shelve the material and find a different piece of material. We have about 5 feet of 2.5 dia that has been sitting a shelf since the mid 60's so it will probably sit for another few decades... Not sure where the idea of the cheap lathe came from but it isn't a china machine. I found a piece of Ultimo 200 that will probably work. Thanks again for all the input.
ken moss
Stainless
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2002
- Location
- woodland wa clark
I have cleaned a few tail stock quills and most of them machine like 1144
Greg Menke
Diamond
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2004
- Location
- Baltimore, MD, USA
Its nice to be able to machine the end of the quill after reaming or if tooling needs clearance for some other reason.
HuFlungDung
Diamond
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2005
- Location
- Canada
If the tool slips in the taper, it still makes a mess, fully hardened or not. My pillar drill has a fully hard surfaced spindle socket and it's still got a gouge in it from something. It's just more of a bitch trying to clean it up when it is that hard. Be better to have something that a reamer will scrape effectively.
