A Little Light Relief – Mine’s Bigger Than Yours……………

[Anonymous]

……….unless you know different; swarf that is! I was in a bit of hurry to machine a 3″ bar of steel (EN3B I think) down to 1.5″ diameter this evening. Set the speed to 800rpm, depth of cut 0.1″ and feedrate 4 thou/rev. The swarf came off in loooooong tightly curled lengths, interspered with shorter lengths. The longest single length I could find is shown below; a bit over 11 feet. The ruler is a 600mm one.

 

 

I also managed to burn my foot, and ruin another pair of socks, while operating the lathe; it takes real ‘genius’ to be that creative!

 

Regards,

 

Andrew

[Anonymous]

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

If you were in that much of a hurry then you should have been running at 1400 revs and 4mm cut.

Medium feed [ don’t know what that is never looked at the book <g> ]

 

John S.

[Billy MillsParticipant @billymills]

I had a longer one than you but it went rusty and dropped off. How did you manage to do in the first pair of socks Andrew? is your lathe fitted with foot wheels? the Mystery deepens…..

 

Happy Risk Assessments

 

Billy.

 

[Anonymous]

Posted by John Stevenson on 18/07/2011 23:10:34:

If you were in that much of a hurry then you should have been running at 1400 revs and 4mm cut.

 

John S.

 

Steady on, I’ve only got a weeny lathe!

 

Andrew

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Andrew,

11 Feet, pathetic,

A few years ago I was turning down some 80mm nylon, and got swarf that was around 150-175 YARDS long. I was going to take it to MEX at Sandown for a “guess the length of the swarf” competition on the SMEE stand. I haven’t given the exact length in case the idea gets resurrected another time.

chriStephens

EDIT I did it deliberately just for the fun of it, otherwise I would have taken  a heavier feed rate.

Edited By chris stephens on 18/07/2011 23:57:26

[Anonymous]

Ah ha, I knew I’d be out-swarffed in short (long?) order.

 

Impressive, when I turn plastic the swarf always seems to wrap itself around the job in a big ball getting tighter and tighter, and generating heat, so I have to stop and clear it before it overheats and melts.

 

Andrew

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Andrew,

Don’t feel bad about it, I was winding it up as I was going so that it did not get tangled.

chriStephens

[Dave TointonParticipant @davetointon92281]

I’d be inclined to increase the feed rate until the swarf chips into little blue pieces. much safer to clean up and a few of those down your boot will ruin a pair of socks very efficiently and give you a nasty burn as well!!!

Regards

Dave Tointon

 

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I did’nt measure my longest bit , it was 316 stainlessthat I was boring out to make a cup shaped piece for the hot end for one of my hot air engines. I was going a bit slow, about 500rpm, and taking 2 mm cuts, to bore a hole 1 3/4″ dia. Ian S C

[NJHParticipant @njh]

You Guys need to get out more!    

Cheers

Norman

Edited By NJH on 19/07/2011 12:21:32

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

What, and miss all the fun?

chriStephens

[Anonymous]

Posted by NJH on 19/07/2011 12:21:05:

You Guys need to get out more!

Cheers

Norman

 

Quite the reverse actually! I seem to be out and about non-stop, so very little workshop time available, hence the rush that resulted in this thread.

 

Dave: Actually the loooong swarf was the exception rather than the rule. Most of it came off in lengths between 1″ and 10″. It seemed to alternate, one cut long, the next short. Presumably some subtle changes in the cutting parameters determine the length, but I’m blowed if I know what. It was one of the short purple bits of swarf that got into my shoe, and resulted in the ejection of said shoe about a millisecond later. Left a nice hole in the sock and a pretty pattern burnt into my foot.

 

According to my calculations I was removing 2.9 cubic inches per minute. Allowing 1hp per cubic inch per minute, I was on the limit, as I have a 3hp motor on my lathe. You could certainly hear the headstock gears taking the strain and slowing down slightly.

 

Regards,

 

Andrew

 

PS: The first pair of socks were ruined when I dropped a shovel load of swarf on my shoes when clearing up. There were so many little bits of sharp swarf embedded in the socks it was easier to throw them away.

[FilParticipant @fil]

Doesn’t everyone wear flared trousers to prevent the swarf-in-sock syndrome

[Anonymous]

Yes, but as I’m getting older the trousers need to be flared at the waist line to allow for expansion, rather than at the trouser end.

 

Andrew

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Chris,

 

Your nylon swarf… perhaps you could teach the anglers how to make their own monofil.

 

Neil

[Author]

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