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Milling hardened A8 steel

PassNCrash

Plastic
Joined
May 2, 2019
Hi,

I have a small shop that sharpens among other things chipper blades out of small portable chippers. The ones you see tree service guys using.
They like to chip rocks along with the trees!
Sometimes the blades need a full 1/8 or more removed to sharpen them.
This takes a long time on the grinder. Good way to lose money.
I don't know the hardness but was wondering about getting a bit of a beater milling machine and maybe face milling the bulk of it off.
The blades are mostly A8 hardened 5/8" thick and ground to around 35 degrees.

Thoughts?

Glen
 
First thought is that this is the wrong sub forum, this is for rigging and lifting. Might need to be in general really.

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tried with a grinder, like a 7 inch with cubitron or blaze fiberdisk? The blaze moves metal without wrist shock, cost more per pound of metal removed.
 
I can't help with the mill idea but why don't you charge extra for a blade that needs extra work. Tell them there is a big difference between sharpening a blade and reconditioning it after it takes a hit. I understand you wanting to keep them coming back but you should not lose money on it, Show them the damage compared to a undamaged one. These guys understand the value of time and money

Make Chips Boys !

Rob
 
milling hard (58-60 Rc) A8 is very doable. Typically it is done with an endmill spec'd for hard milling rather than an inserted cutter. Speaking in general terms.....when machining hard steel interupted cuts are not your friend. An inserted cutter is a series of interupted cuts. The inserts tend to chip. With a solid endmill we tend to use multi fluteendmills with a steeper helix angle in order to keep one or more flutes engaged in the cut in an effort to reduce the interupted factor.....
On top of that........hard milling succesfully requires a sturdy machine with minimal "slop". Not normally something that is associated with a "beater" mill.

just my .02
good luck
 
milling hard (58-60 Rc) A8 is very doable. Typically it is done with an endmill spec'd for hard milling rather than an inserted cutter. Speaking in general terms.....when machining hard steel interupted cuts are not your friend. An inserted cutter is a series of interupted cuts. The inserts tend to chip. With a solid endmill we tend to use multi fluteendmills with a steeper helix angle in order to keep one or more flutes engaged in the cut in an effort to reduce the interupted factor.....
On top of that........hard milling succesfully requires a sturdy machine with minimal "slop". Not normally something that is associated with a "beater" mill.

just my .02
good luck

Along with this ^ , you will need an endmill with a coating designed for hard milling. You could do some milling with a 'regular' uncoated (or a not hard specific coating) but it will not last long.
 
Hi,

I have a small shop that sharpens among other things chipper blades out of small portable chippers. The ones you see tree service guys using.
They like to chip rocks along with the trees!
Sometimes the blades need a full 1/8 or more removed to sharpen them.
This takes a long time on the grinder. Good way to lose money.
I don't know the hardness but was wondering about getting a bit of a beater milling machine and maybe face milling the bulk of it off.
The blades are mostly A8 hardened 5/8" thick and ground to around 35 degrees.

Thoughts?

Glen

.
blade needs to be supported so it does not vibrate. in general the harder the steel the lower the depth and width of cut possible other wise you break the corners off end mill. fully hard steel often only take .001" or .002" depth of cut. sure you can try more, just make sure you got plenty of end mills
 








 
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