Why does cold rolled suck so bad now? I remember cutting cold rolled 10 years ago and it would finish fantastic. But now... well here's the story.
All I wanted to do was hit the garage, turn on the lathe, make a couple screw jacks, and be happy. But noooooo......rock the rat was not to have fun today.
After the project was finished, I must have sanded every part twice due to poor finish. Changed speeds and feeds more than I changed my mind. Fed by hand to see if I could find the sweet spot. Nada.
I tried carbide and HSS. Used cutting fluid, oil, bacon grease, snot, urin, cat turd and anything else that I could get my hands on. Except the cat. Probably best that he ran off when he saw me reach for him.
The bar would cut so nice, then it would tear for 1/2 a rev, then cut nice again. I ended up usng HSS and running it a bit slower than I thought and got a decnet finish. Sorta.
Then I started to chase the threads. I got 1/2 the depth and they were looking a bit shaggy so I grabbed the thread die to finish it up. And wouldnt ya know, it ended up drunken cause I held the handle my hand instead of using the die holder for the tailstock. Grrrrrr........
So what gives? Do you fellers have a trick you use when it just wont finish? Or should I just change over to 4140 and be done with it?
rock
All I wanted to do was hit the garage, turn on the lathe, make a couple screw jacks, and be happy. But noooooo......rock the rat was not to have fun today.
After the project was finished, I must have sanded every part twice due to poor finish. Changed speeds and feeds more than I changed my mind. Fed by hand to see if I could find the sweet spot. Nada.
I tried carbide and HSS. Used cutting fluid, oil, bacon grease, snot, urin, cat turd and anything else that I could get my hands on. Except the cat. Probably best that he ran off when he saw me reach for him.

The bar would cut so nice, then it would tear for 1/2 a rev, then cut nice again. I ended up usng HSS and running it a bit slower than I thought and got a decnet finish. Sorta.
Then I started to chase the threads. I got 1/2 the depth and they were looking a bit shaggy so I grabbed the thread die to finish it up. And wouldnt ya know, it ended up drunken cause I held the handle my hand instead of using the die holder for the tailstock. Grrrrrr........
So what gives? Do you fellers have a trick you use when it just wont finish? Or should I just change over to 4140 and be done with it?
rock
Comment