First chamber cast

[Distant Thunder]

Kurt,

What are you running your grinding wheels in. We always used a surface grinder and an index head (coffee grinder as we called it). Wheels vary a lot from make to make. The last several years I used U.S. Diamond Wheel. Before that we got them from a local manufacturer by the name of United Abrasives, but they went out of business. They made good wheels.

For our 1/2 x 8 x 1 1/4" we used 46H for roughing and square grinding. Then 60K, 80K and 100K for form grinding.

The cutter I made up recently is a 4-flute and I did all the work in the mill, finishing the flutes completely to size while soft and then just hand stoned the cutting edges after heat treating. I used A-2 tool steel because it is what I had that was 1/2 diameter. The first test it didn't cut as well as I hoped, but with a little careful stoning it did a pretty good job the second try. That one is a .44 caliber. Next I'll make a .45 caliber and learning as I go it should turn out better.

The profile could be turned in a lathe and the flutes cut in a mill. Probably still need a little hand work for the reliefs.


I'll see if I can remember to take a picture of it next week and post it here.


I've made all sorts of cutters, reamers and even taps over the years, but this is a little different. I never had much luck with "D" type cutters, but they do work.