About to start my first M3

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
H

Haynie

Member
Joined
May 20, 2011
Messages
3,516
Location
Page Arizona
I am about to tackle my first M3. Lets face it these things are not cheap and I would be seriously bummed if I screwed it up.

What can I expect? I watched the video but those never show pitfalls.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
I don't think you'll have trouble, but keep us posted on this thread, if you would. I use the Woodchuck carbide cutters, and I thought the stuff is easier than most acrylic--flying powder and wisps of material. I had heard through the feedback at PSI that their M3 lava blanks were "harder than the hobs of hell." I didn't think they were any worse than regular M3 blanks.
 
Haynie said:
I am about to tackle my first M3. Lets face it these things are not cheap and I would be seriously bummed if I screwed it up.

What can I expect? I watched the video but those never show pitfalls.
Click to expand...
Depending on the flavor of m3 blank you have, I would say you can expect light powdery ribbons like I got on the nickel silver blank below. Notice I used a typical Sorby skew, no need for anything special.

200712720311_m3%201.jpg


More light powdery ribbons.

200712720427_m3%205.jpg


And when drilling, expect easy drilling similar to ebonite and you might expect to see powder like the mokume gane blank below, not metal shavings burning up bits like many expect to see. Like ebonite, these don't like heat so drill slowly.

200712720524_m3%207.jpg
 
Thanks for the info, especially about the heat. I will power it down. Hopefully I can get to this Monday. My weekend just disappeared into "lets go get sod and put in some grass".

Did you find you needed to sharpen your tools a lot?
 
Haynie said:
Thanks for the info, especially about the heat. I will power it down. Hopefully I can get to this Monday. My weekend just disappeared into "lets go get sod and put in some grass".

Did you find you needed to sharpen your tools a lot?
Click to expand...

I didn't. If memory serves, there are several true stone blanks harder on tools than the m3 resins.
 
Guess it don't matter the damn thing exploded on the drill press. I was trying to be careful. Slowly drilling. Back out every 1/8 inch or so. It shattered 1/4 inch from the end. Oh well.
 
Haynie said:
Guess it don't matter the damn thing exploded on the drill press. I was trying to be careful. Slowly drilling. Back out every 1/8 inch or so. It shattered 1/4 inch from the end. Oh well.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that but it is pretty common especially when drilling on a drill press.

Back in the olden days when I drilled on the drill press using a pen vice, I would do one of two things.

1. I would use a blank that I knew was longer than I needed and only drilled to within 1/2" or so from the bottom then would trim the length after the blank was drilled.

2. If I only had a certain length to work with, I would glue another sacrafice block to the bottom then drill to within 1/2" or so from the bottom.

If memory serves, most blanks shattered when there was nothing to support them and once the drill tip broke through the end, the sudden torqu would tear the blank up.
 
Haynie said:
Pretty darn expensive lesson to learn. When I get my four jaw chuck some time here soon I will try again.
Click to expand...

Depending on where you bought it from, I know that a number of companies will let you return the broken blank and get a replacement at a discount, I don't recall specifically which ones but I would definitely give it a try,
 
M3 used to guarantee their blanks even for accidental mistakes. You might visit their website and see if that is still true.

I got better results using their finish than anything else I tried.
 
Which M3 did you have? I have used the drill press and lathe on 4-5 different M3 and with no problem. When I get close to the bottom of the blank I go forward with very light pressure and have had no trouble. I have used brad point and regular dril bits. Lathe was set to 500 and drill press I think was about 600.
 
Thank you. I did not know about the guarantee. I will need to gather the pieces and contact the vendor.
 
Last edited:
I didn't realize that either. I'd love to do one, and have an idea of what I want, but the cost has kept me away. That makes it a little less daunting. Thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom