Help with M3 Metal blanks

[GregMuller]

If anyone who has used this type of blank has any advice I would love to hear it. My son is currently trying to turn the Black and Gold version and we find the blank is very hard and turning is going very slow. Tools are sharp and I have sharpened them twice so far. At this point the blanks are round but that took about an hour of turning. Any suggestions?

 

[Monty]

Using a skew, I found they turn very similar to acrylic/PR/truestone etc.blanks.

 

[DCBluesman]

If you think the black gold is tough, try the Damascus! I find these blanks are among the most difficult I have turned. Frequent honing is required.

 

[GregMuller]

Mannie or Lou,
When you sand are you useing regular sand paper. I was going to use the same procedure I used for the Aluminum blank. 150-400 then 600-2000 auto paper with mineral sprits for lube and then MM to 12000. Any thoughts?

 

[MHKogan]

Sorry for taking so long to find your post so I will make it a point to search the forum more often. Our R&D department uses carbide tipped tools and runs the lathe at 3200rpm. I would think that this would work with standard tools as well but they will need to be honed more often. I have also has customers tell me that they use rasps and files in the early stages and save their chisels for final shaping. I should also mention that it is a good idea to round the blank on a belt sander before turning on the lathe.

I hope this is helpful even though it is late.

Mike

 

[randyrls]

Originally posted by GregMuller

If anyone who has used this type of blank has any advice I would love to hear it. My son is currently trying to turn the Black and Gold version and we find the blank is very hard and turning is going very slow. Tools are sharp and I have sharpened them twice so far. At this point the blanks are round but that took about an hour of turning. Any suggestions?

Greg; After mounting on the mandrel, I always knock the corners off the acrylics with a drum sander. You can go as far as you like toward roundness. A skew and a planing cut is best. I have been experimenting with a curved edge on my skew and found it cuts better. I also grind on a disk sander rather than grinder wheel so I get a true flat cutting surface rather than a "hollow" grind. Use a diamond hone rather than a grinder to touch up the edge. You can do this about 5-10 times before you need to go back to the grinder and restore the edge.

Hope this helps.....

 

[DCBluesman]

Greg - I'm sorry I missed this post. I use regular sandpaper on the M3 blanks, then shift to Micro-mesh. Finally, I use metal polish, currently Brasso, to get the final shine. I just received a sample of Nuvite polishes and will be trying them this weekend. On a side note, if anyone posts a question for me on the forum and does not get an snwer, please feel free to email me. I don't always get a chance to read each post, but will gladly do my best to answer private emails.

 

[ed4copies]

To each his own, but I would avoid using MM, unless you want to dedicate it to turning metals. This will "blacken" your MM, which will transfer to subsequent projects (IMO!!!)

These things are metal, use Brasso.

 

[GregMuller]

Thanks all.