Re: Cutting stainless media

On Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:29:53 -0700 (PDT), Jeff <clajef@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:

>On Apr 24, 8:07 am, "Tim Williams" <tmoran...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> The trick to cutting / machining stainless in general is heavy pressure
and
>> a deep cut.  The material work hardens easily, so light pressure /
feeds
>> just makes a hardened skin, leading to cursing and hair pulling. 
<snip>
>>
>> Or you can blast the sh*t out of it with fire or plasma, fair enough.
>>
>> Tim
>
>One option has not been discussed and would only be a possibility if
>you happen to have a friendly lapidary or rock shop in your area.
>These folks have to cut really hard stuff (quartz geodes, etc) all the
>time, and do it with a water or oil bathed diamond saw. I have such a
>saw and it comes in handy to cut all sorts of items that would
>otherwise be quite difficult. Stainless steel is so soft compared to
>the rocks that are the usual media being worked, the wear on the blade
>should be negligible. The cooling bath should prevent work hardening
>of the SS.

They use diamond saws to cut bricks in half and to groove concrete
slabs to control cracking. A lot more saws used for that than for
cutting rocks.

Casady