Turning stainless steel

[BobL]

To bring the conversation back to stainless, the carding machine needs/uses lots of accessories like these.
The big combs are made from SS TIG rods
The woods used for A, B and E are Marri, D is Olive and C is another Aussie native called Sheoak.
Big hook in "D" is also SS.


Cutting the comb teeth all to the same length was a bit of PITA so I ended up stuffing them into a couple of collets in collet blocks like this.
Set the collet "face end down" on a flat surface and tapped all the rods down as far as they would go - tightened the collet and held the other end up against a sanding disc to grind them all to the same length

[BobL]

Around here we use the term "red gum" to refer to the heart wood of what we know as the "sweet gum" tree (liquid amber or liquidambar.) Much despised by home owners, because of the billions of spiky balls it produces to fall on lawns to be stepped on, or raked. It too exudes a lot of sap, but nothing as visually interesting as that marri. Nor is the wood so highly figured; in fact it has almost no figure. Serves mostly as a secondary wood in furniture making.

Yeah it quite different to "Liquid Ambar" which I have also milled. Marri is one of the softest of our native "Gums" which to us here in Oz are a generic name for most of our trees.
That highly figured tree is somewhat unusual as only about one in a dozen trees has any figure and one in 50 has that much figure.
As it matures it darkens and develops more resin streaks (exuding resin is its way of fighting bugs and fungal infestations.
Here is an example of mature tree, note the resin rings - this is where it tends to fall apart when it dries.

Here's the same tree with a slice off the top - note the big pocket of resin especially in the middle of the cut.
Despite this it still makes super nice furniture.


Tell me to take a jump if this is too much detail. I might sound like I'm more of a woody than a metal worker but I spilt my time roughly equally between wood/metal/electronics.

[mickeyf]

Nice job on the carding machine! In the '80's, my wife and I used to make hand-woven clothing and did the craft fair circuit, so we met a lot of people who worked with wool further upstream in the process than we did. Us, mostly yarn, and some hand spinning.

[lynnl]

I have heard of "marri," but knew nothing about its characteristics.

Around here we use the term "red gum" to refer to the heart wood of what we know as the "sweet gum" tree (liquid amber or liquidambar.) Much despised by home owners, because of the billions of spiky balls it produces to fall on lawns to be stepped on, or raked. It too exudes a lot of sap, but nothing as visually interesting as that marri. Nor is the wood so highly figured; in fact it has almost no figure. Serves mostly as a secondary wood in furniture making.

[BobL]

I use the crobalt bits in inverted diamond point tool holders like this
The holders come with that beaut grinding jig.
Apart from inserts I hardly uses anything else for general turning.

[BobL]

Funny, she did get her present right? Im sure,,

Oh yeah she got the present.
Here is what she does with it.
Turns this;

Into this.

She then either spins the wool or dyes it and uses it to makes woollen sculptures like this

The sheep , coyote and the bust are all made of wool.

[BobL]

BobL, that's about the most highly figured wood I've ever seen. Is it really that pronounced, or is the camera image accentuating the figure?
What is it? I assume something specific to Australia.
(the wood, that is...)

Its the real thing. Its common name is "Marri" or "Western Australian Redgum". It looks like a eucalyptus and was up until a few years ago known as "Eucalyptus calophylla" but is now know as Corymbia calophylla which is technically a Bloodwood. It sometimes contains fist size pockets and long streaky veins of liquid blood red resin. These resin streaks were more pronounced in mature trees and caused large pieces of the wood to fall apart so it was despised by saw mills and left behind in forests and burned on farms and ranches. In the last 20 years it has become prized for furniture and even floor boards. The bench seats at a local church are made of it and they look stunning, although most of the congregation wouldn't know what it was or care if they sat on plastic benches.

Here is a picture of the log I used to make the carding machine from when I first milled it in 2008.
As the wood ages the figure becomes more pronounced. The brown streaks are dried resin.

Here's a few more pics of the wood used in the Carding machine.
The large spike covered cylinder was made like a thick walled barrel as I was going to put lead short in the middle to give it dded angular momentum but it turned out to be heavy enough without.

And the underneath.


And here's why it's called a bloodwood.
Nope that is not a chainsaw injury but the resin from pockets in that tree above.
I took this photo to send it to my BIL as I was sick of him sending me photos of his surgical procedures showing stitches and staples up his back like a zipper.

[lynnl]

I also milled the timber from a sizeable log back in 2008?
Oh yeah if you want to know what it is, its a wool carding machine, turns tangled hanks of shorn wool into hanks with the fibres all running in the same direction .

BobL, that's about the most highly figured wood I've ever seen. Is it really that pronounced, or is the camera image accentuating the figure?

What is it? I assume something specific to Australia.
(the wood, that is...)

[reggie_obe]

OK O know I'm going to regret asking this, but WTF is Crobalt? Cobalt, yes I know all about that but Crobalt?

Trade name for a specific Cobalt alloy.
http://crobalt.com/whatiscrobalt.htm

[Richard P Wilson]

OK O know I'm going to regret asking this, but WTF is Crobalt? Cobalt, yes I know all about that but Crobalt?

[boslab]

Old but relevant
https://sassda.co.za/wp-content/uplo...-Chart-A32.pdf
mark

[Dave C]

I got some stainless for a small project a while back but don’t know what series; it’s got a green paint identifier on it. I was pleased turning it with no problems and really liked the finish after turning. I think it was a bit harder on my tooling but not by much. I was a bit concerned how difficult it would be to turn but not not so much after doing it.

I used to work at a place that used 316 and it came with green painted ends.

[JRouche]

About the middle of 2021 I finally managed to complete my wife's 2020 Xmas present - this is pretty good for me as I'm known to take many years to complete family requests.



I used carbide inserts for all the boring and some of the exterior turning otherwise I use Crobalt bits.
Worked way better than I expected..

Funny, she did get her present right? Im sure,,

Ummm, I dont finish things for some reason. But what caught my eye was the use of Crobalt? Most folks dont use that or dont know about it. I do. I just have never seen anyone else talk about it. I have a bunch and it is great with metals that might get hard during turning, SS. No big deal. I like the tool blanks.

Neat to see some one else uses the stuff for difficult SS.

Crobalt is a member of alloy like Stellite that some folks seem to cherish but much less expensive. Same results. JR

[BobL]

About the middle of 2021 I finally managed to complete my wife's 2020 Xmas present - this is pretty good for me as I'm known to take many years to complete family requests.
Up until then I had done very little SS turning so I took on the job with some trepidation, but I only had to make one part twice and that was because of a measurement stuff up.

All the metal is SS except for a couple of custom phosphorus bronze washers.
I used 316 for the bearing holders, shafts and collars, and 304 for the brackets, all from a steel merchants offcuts shelf.
I used carbide inserts for all the boring and some of the exterior turning otherwise I use Crobalt bits.
Worked way better than I expected.


I also milled the timber from a sizeable log back in 2008?
Oh yeah if you want to know what it is, its a wool carding machine, turns tangled hanks of shorn wool into hanks with the fibres all running in the same direction .

[polaraligned]

lol, then take Doozers advice and just don't dwell

No. Last time I dwelled I ended up with my 4th kid....