SteveG
Member
This ended up being a very long post. It will probably be of interest mostly to those wanting to turn Damascus Steel (DS) pens, and who are limited by having a light duty lathe. I recently posted two threads...one was soliciting suggestions and the second was presenting the Damascus Steel (DS) pen I have made. This thread is a listing of things I learned and tooling I used to do the job. My metal lathe is a Micromark 7 X 16, and it was right at, or perhaps a little beyond, the limits of this machine to do the task (at least with the tooling that I used). Please understand, what you are reading is NOT the voice of vast experience, but rather the voice of almost NO experience! This was the first significant pen item I have made on a metal lathe. What I did, and what tooling I used was based on suggestions I rec'd in the first thread where I asked for help. You can see photos of the turning stock and the pen in the Show Off Your Pens thread.
The material I used was from a DS twisted rod said to be made from motorcycle chains. Whether this was easier or more difficult steel to drill and turn than other types of DS, I do not know. The rod was about 1.2" diameter, with the look somewhat like that of a thick rope. Just for fun I mounted it on the lathe to try to ruff turn it. If I would have continued with that, it would have beat my mini lathe into a small pile of busted up iron and plastic gear parts. I sent the rod off to Nikitas who had offered to turn it down to a smooth rod. So I started my work with a smooth turned rod, about 5/8" diameter.
This is a list of steps taken and tooling used, along with eval statements of same:
1. Cut rod to length. Used cutoff wheel on my Milwaukee rotary tool. Worked fine.
2. Center drilling with HSS and HSS-Cobalt center drills. Both types of center drills went dull fairly quick. To sharpen with Drill Dr. would require grinding off the small diameter tip, producing a spotting drill that had the angle limitations of the Drill Doc. I suggest having a few center drill bits on hand.
3. Drilling the stock for the pen kit components. I had bought a select group of drill bits in the sizes I would need for the variety of taps and dies I have bought for kitless work. I ordered upgraded HSS bits. These were HSS/Cobalt...more expensive. Here is my major lesson learned. Regular, high quality HSS bits immediately go dull...worthless. Upgraded HSS/Cobalt bits work, but go dull fairly quicky. The Cobalt bits eventually got the job done, but only after many, many return trips to the Drill Doc. Before I do another DS pen, I will buy Carbide tipped drill bits. My idea is to gets about four carbide bits which will get the initial through hole and then a slightly undersized hole which I will then finish with the HSS/Cobalt bit to the final size.
4. Turning. I used Carbide insert tooling, the triangle shape with 1/32" radius cutting point. This seemed to work well, taking light cuts. I used the three "points" on one insert for turning the single, 3" pen barrel. (One point chipped, the second went a little dull, and I put up the fresh point for the final, finish cuts.) I expect a brazed carbide tool bit would have worked fine, but just did not try or use them.
5. Producing the final, curved profile. After turning the 5/8" rod down to just over.500" (near finish size), I mounted the fresh carbide point of the insert. and then proceeded to turn an approximate final curved profile by swinging the compound rest way over to 1 or 2 degrees to rough in the profile. This followed by some 80 grit emery cloth and working with a file, and then the rotary tool with progressively finer flexible sanding disks, ending with 240 grit. Finally, hand sanding with 400, then 600 grit sand paper. The blank looked like polished steel
6.Etching. (Bought acid powder on ebay: Ferric Chloride.) Did the etching following instructions provided to me in the 'help' thread. Worked fine, 5 minutes in the acid, and rinse. Let it set for some hours, then cleaned up the surface, and wax coat applied. Pressed on the pen kit hardware. Done.
Comments. I would not even try this again until have carbide (tipped) drill bits. During the drilling phase everything had to be exceptionally tight: the collet chuck, the drill chuck and the lock-down of the tail stock. (Note on the tailstock lock down for drilling: I had to make that so tight I thought I was going to break something!) At several points each of these three gripping points slipped, even though I thought they were tight enough! I used cutting fluid continuously, for every operation, including the filing.
I spent a very large amount of time drilling (and Drill Doctoring). Using carbide drill bits should change that. Otherwise, a fun and rewarding project. I welcome inputs from anyone, and am happy to answer any questions this write-up might provoke.
The material I used was from a DS twisted rod said to be made from motorcycle chains. Whether this was easier or more difficult steel to drill and turn than other types of DS, I do not know. The rod was about 1.2" diameter, with the look somewhat like that of a thick rope. Just for fun I mounted it on the lathe to try to ruff turn it. If I would have continued with that, it would have beat my mini lathe into a small pile of busted up iron and plastic gear parts. I sent the rod off to Nikitas who had offered to turn it down to a smooth rod. So I started my work with a smooth turned rod, about 5/8" diameter.
This is a list of steps taken and tooling used, along with eval statements of same:
1. Cut rod to length. Used cutoff wheel on my Milwaukee rotary tool. Worked fine.
2. Center drilling with HSS and HSS-Cobalt center drills. Both types of center drills went dull fairly quick. To sharpen with Drill Dr. would require grinding off the small diameter tip, producing a spotting drill that had the angle limitations of the Drill Doc. I suggest having a few center drill bits on hand.
3. Drilling the stock for the pen kit components. I had bought a select group of drill bits in the sizes I would need for the variety of taps and dies I have bought for kitless work. I ordered upgraded HSS bits. These were HSS/Cobalt...more expensive. Here is my major lesson learned. Regular, high quality HSS bits immediately go dull...worthless. Upgraded HSS/Cobalt bits work, but go dull fairly quicky. The Cobalt bits eventually got the job done, but only after many, many return trips to the Drill Doc. Before I do another DS pen, I will buy Carbide tipped drill bits. My idea is to gets about four carbide bits which will get the initial through hole and then a slightly undersized hole which I will then finish with the HSS/Cobalt bit to the final size.
4. Turning. I used Carbide insert tooling, the triangle shape with 1/32" radius cutting point. This seemed to work well, taking light cuts. I used the three "points" on one insert for turning the single, 3" pen barrel. (One point chipped, the second went a little dull, and I put up the fresh point for the final, finish cuts.) I expect a brazed carbide tool bit would have worked fine, but just did not try or use them.
5. Producing the final, curved profile. After turning the 5/8" rod down to just over.500" (near finish size), I mounted the fresh carbide point of the insert. and then proceeded to turn an approximate final curved profile by swinging the compound rest way over to 1 or 2 degrees to rough in the profile. This followed by some 80 grit emery cloth and working with a file, and then the rotary tool with progressively finer flexible sanding disks, ending with 240 grit. Finally, hand sanding with 400, then 600 grit sand paper. The blank looked like polished steel
6.Etching. (Bought acid powder on ebay: Ferric Chloride.) Did the etching following instructions provided to me in the 'help' thread. Worked fine, 5 minutes in the acid, and rinse. Let it set for some hours, then cleaned up the surface, and wax coat applied. Pressed on the pen kit hardware. Done.
Comments. I would not even try this again until have carbide (tipped) drill bits. During the drilling phase everything had to be exceptionally tight: the collet chuck, the drill chuck and the lock-down of the tail stock. (Note on the tailstock lock down for drilling: I had to make that so tight I thought I was going to break something!) At several points each of these three gripping points slipped, even though I thought they were tight enough! I used cutting fluid continuously, for every operation, including the filing.
I spent a very large amount of time drilling (and Drill Doctoring). Using carbide drill bits should change that. Otherwise, a fun and rewarding project. I welcome inputs from anyone, and am happy to answer any questions this write-up might provoke.