Stellite

[macmarchParticipant @macmarch]

Can anyone help with a supplier?  I want buy a small piece of stellite about 1/4″ sq 2″ long for use as a boring tool.  The problem being price.  Several outlets on t’internet offer it .but  I would like to find a reasonably priced source.

 

cheers

 

Ray

 

[macmarchParticipant @macmarch]

[Steve GarnettParticipant @stevegarnett62550]

Assuming that it’s what it says it is (no reason not to think so, but…) then is this the sort of thing you are looking for? Price seems pretty reasonable to me…

[macmarchParticipant @macmarch]

Thanks Steve. that will do nicely. The best price I could find elsewhere was £15/inch.

 

Ray

[Steve GarnettParticipant @stevegarnett62550]

Ouch!

 

For a lot of stuff like this, Ebay often turns up unexpected results, almost to the point of being a first port of call.

[Dave TointonParticipant @davetointon92281]

I was under the impression that stellite was a hard facing material applied like brazing rod with an oxy torch. We used to face milling  cutters with it for cutting copper in a special application. I tried to buy some recently but noone knew what it was. I have been out of the trade for 25 years and in Australia

Regards

Dave Tointon

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

I think Stellite has pretty much been replaced by carbides and CBN tooling these days. I haven’t seen it offered for years at the metal houses I deal with.

 

What are you boring that requires stellite? (maybe someone here can offer a different solution from their experience.)

 

It also used to be used in some car valve seats and valves but new alloys and surface treatments made it obsolete.

[Steve GarnettParticipant @stevegarnett62550]

Whilst looking for Ray’s stellite, I found one interesting comment about using stellite drills, which apparently you can still buy – at a price:

 

“For use on steels above hardness RC 51. Results can be obtained below this hardness but there is a risk of drill breakage. The Stellite drill generates intense localised heat which softens the steel at the drill point. As the Stellite alloy has a high degree of red hardness it does not anneal with this heat but continues to operate, actually cutting its way through as evidenced by the chips produced. A heavy pressure must be used to start and maintain the cutting action, but this can be eased slightly once chips have formed. A machine must be used to achieve adequate pressure and rigidity, using hand tools will result in drill breakage.It is advised to grind a slight flat on the drill point to prevent drill wandering on irregular surfaces.”

 

And this was on a site that lists stellite and carbide drills next to each other, but makes a clear distinction between their potential uses.

 

Also, Hitachi use stellite tips on one of their very expensive bandsaw blades.

Edited By Steve Garnett on 06/03/2010 20:20:46

[macmarchParticipant @macmarch]

As  Jeff says carbide tends to used instead. Stellite, once you have patiently ground it copes extremely well with getting under the skin of castings. It copes with cold spots and surface sand left on the casting and keeps on going even when glowing red. Best of all it doesn’t suffer interrupted cuts. I have two pieces of 1/2″ sq that do stirling service on steels like EN8 and EN57. Never used Stellite drills, I would have thought there may be a problem with breakage. Stellite also needs power to work properly.

 

ray

 

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