Ed McDonnell
Member
I've been turning down the heads on some grade 2 steel 5/8-11 bolts and the hexs on matching nuts. The chips on the bolts turn into these long (12" - 24") writhing snakes that are making me a little nervous. I stand back from the lathe, but eventually I have to use the controls. I don't like having to move my hands in towards the controls with these things jumping around. A quick wrap around a finger or wrist and people will be calling me stumpy.
I've not encountered this with other metals (aluminum, brass, 12L14 Steel and T-303 stainless). The nuts don't do this. The chips from the nuts break off when they are about an inch long. Plastics will have long chips, but they usually just wrap around the work and are only a minor nuisance. But the chips off these screws are something else.
Adjusting speed and depth of cut hasn't made much of a difference. I'm using HSS indexable cutters. The lathe is a 7x16.
Any suggestions on how to kill the snakes?
Ed
I've not encountered this with other metals (aluminum, brass, 12L14 Steel and T-303 stainless). The nuts don't do this. The chips from the nuts break off when they are about an inch long. Plastics will have long chips, but they usually just wrap around the work and are only a minor nuisance. But the chips off these screws are something else.
Adjusting speed and depth of cut hasn't made much of a difference. I'm using HSS indexable cutters. The lathe is a 7x16.
Any suggestions on how to kill the snakes?
Ed