cutting HSS blanks

~B For small pieces of HSS I use a cut off wheel in a Dremel or other hand grinder. For larger pieces I use a 1/8" cut off wheel in an angle grinder. A friend of mine swears by a 1/16" cut off wheel in his spin saw. I have no idea how to drill the stuff but you can grind a hole through it. That is what they used to do in the aeronaughtics branch of the manufacturing business my father-in-law worked at.

darrell. what kind of wheels are you using in your dremel (AlO or SiO etc) and which in our angle grinder? do you know what your friend uses? is there wat to cut using a special carbide bandsaw blade or drill using HSS carbide bits and cutting oil?

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Charlile, Use a Dremel or similar high speed grinder. They sell Dremel cut-off wheels (in a tube of 50, I think). While there, get some of their diamond or carbide burrs. That will allow you to "drill" thru HSS. It will be a chore, but it can be done this way. The other alternative is to anneal the steel, but even without hardning, most HSS is not very easy to cut/drill, especially if it has much Cobalt or Titanium content. Hope this helps.

Ken Moon Webberville, TX.

You should be able to use a TiN or Cobalt coated bit, with cutting oil and a drill press to drill through that. A carborundum cutoff wheel (the nylon reinforced will cut longer) should work nicely. You could also use a hacksaw with a carbide particle blade. I used my bench grinder to cut my 1/4" round stock in half.

I am using the standard Dremel cut-off wheels which I believe are AO. For the angle grinder I use the standard ferrous metal cut off wheels. The thinnest I have found are 1/8" thick. Does anyone know of 1/16" wheels (4

1/2"). My friend uses Zip saw 1/16" ferrous metal cut-off wheels. They do not fit my angle grinder and I do not need to buy another tool.

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All, I have some .025 thick metal cutting blades about 6" in diameter that I put on my table saw arbor and use to cut HSS. This is about as thin as you can go and still be able to cut.

To drill a hole in HSS, use carbide tipped concrete (or masonry) drill bits. Sharpen the cutting edge on your grinder. You can grind carbide with a standard AO (grey) grinding wheel, just not very fast. You want to make the edge as sharp as you can while maintaining a 5 degree clearance angle. In other words, the included angle on the carbide will be 85 degrees. Use a drill press and cutting oil, high pressure and slow revolutions. If you get the HSS too hot, you will not be able to drill it. Enough cutting oil should keep it cool.

This also works for tools made from files. Files should be annealed by heating red hot and allowing to cool slowly. Normally, an annealed file will retain enough hardness that you do not have to re-temper it. Many of my scraper bits are made from bits of files brazed to 1/4" sq. steel and not re-tempered afterward. They work just fine, but require sharpening more often than HSS. But at a cost of about $.05 each (for brass, acetylene, oxygen) I can afford to sharpen a little more often.

Have fun.

James R. Johnson

bizHB wrote: and how do you drill into HSS?

I've used carbide glass drilling bits, the spearpoint kind seen at most hardware stores. They'll cut 2 or 3 holes in HSS before needing sharpening but they're easy to sharpen.

Ken Grunke