This HSS stuff.....????

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Anyone know if you can weld it? Cut it? Drill it?

I ask, as I have some crappy little tools that got thrown in the deal from the guy who so kindly gave me the C-man lathe, These tools are a joke, but the steel is HSS.

I was thinking of doing a tip kind of tool, using chunks of the cheap tool HSS to make some things up.

The only decent scraper I have is thin and not much there for bulk, so it vibrates like crazy. I have some fairly thick mild steel bar here that , if I could put the HSS on the edge of it, it might just make a nice tool.

I tried drilling the HSS with a cobalt drill bit, and it just spun around and now I have a dull cobalt drill bit :rolleyes:

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions??

Cheers!

[David Fried]

Stu,

I might be crazy but I think I read about someone doing what you suggest and he crazy glued the HSS bit onto the regular steel. I don't know that I'm thrilled about the idea but that is how I remember it.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

You know what, I think I remember that too.....:eek:

could be interesting........ :D

[Dave Mcintire]

If its real HHS you can only cut it with an abrasive wheel, unless you send it to NASA or something. Forget about drilling it too. However, you should be able to braze it silver solder it or weld it to the mild steel shank. You can't bend it either, even with heat. It is heat resistant so if you get it blue while sharpening or cutting it won't affect it. I find a lot of stuff marked HSS really isn't, although there are different grades of HSS.

[Randy Cox]

Wonder if JB weld would work?

Randy

[Jim Becker]

I believe you can braze it, such as when attaching a cutting tip to a mild steel tool shaft.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

OK, I chopped off a piece of the HSS and tried to crazy glue it to a chunk of steel.

36006
Here you can see the chunk on the steel flat bar

36007
Another view

36008
Getting the grind done

36009
Getting real close to putting an edge on it.

36010
Whoops.... Looks like the crazy glue don't like heat..... :(

I guess I could have re-glued it, but instead, I decided to weld it.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

OK, I welded the back of the HSS to the flat bar, and then I ground it.

36011
The piece is fairly thick, so with the 25* bevel on it, I think it looks kinda funny....

36012
another view....

36013

and another.

Don't know how this will work, but I figure it is fun to make, and show you guys, and it has to be a lot less vibration prone, than the thin little scraper I had.

I hope to try it out soon.

Cheers!

[Dick Strauss]

Stu,
As far as I know you can use super glue to hold cutting bits. However, I've only seen it used when you have a 3/8" hole drilled in the end of 3/4" rod and you want to put a 3/8" diameter cutter in the hole. I believe it only works with thin gaps around almost all sides filled by the glue...

[Jim Becker]

Dick is correct...a number of systems use CA to hold cutters in the tooling including David Ellsworth's hollowing tools. But...you use heat to release the glue to replace the tips...and as you found out, it works!