Alum. Bronze Machining

[Perfect Circle]

Is anyone out there an expert on machining "turning and mill work"
when it comes to Alum.BrozeNickel. The material that I am talking about has a Brinell hardness of 150-170. I machine it about 3 times a year and just was seeing if anyone else hates the stuff just as much as I do...or is there some better way to machine it. As in the right tooling grades etc.......
Thanks for any advice in advance

[elsanch]

its the nickel that weARS OUT THE CARBIDE,.. DIAMOND TOOLING IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE SAME REASON......WE USED TO USE A "FIRE-X" COATING FROM GUHRING LOCATED IN CALIFORNIA.....SEEMD TO LAST.

[Cavi Mike]

It depends on where you work and where you are. If it's union, sure, you can expect $30+ no matter where you are. If it's non-union but live in a big city, $30 is attainable. If you live in a small city, don't think you're even going to come close to the $30 mark.

Local living expenses are what dictate salary; that's why people are willing to have a 2hr+ commute to a large city. Besides, if money is all you care about, you're in the wrong field.

And this may come as a shock to you but HSS will be a better bet for cutting bronzes. Harder tooling is not the answer for machining. In fact, diamond should only be used on aluminum and this is only to reduce offline deburring times. The softer the material, the harder(and consequently sharper) the tool should be. The more ductile the material, the softer(and consequently tougher) the tool should be. Brass and its alloys are cut the easiest and cheapest with HSS.

[cob]

if money is all you care about, you're in the wrong field



I would have to agree with you on this pharse

[kwhizz]

We've done a lot of machining in the past of Ampco 21 which is pretty tough stuff....but....we had success machining it with High speed cutters, But.....the rule is to have 7 deg Negative rake on the cutting edge........sharpened correctly, we could machine it quite easily......with limited tool life........with modified taps, we could also Tap easily..........until the cutting edge starts to break down and you started to work harden the surface.......that's when the problems would come in....the trick is to know how to sharpen the tool and when to change the tool..........As with everything in this business, making the job easy only comes thru experience.................

Ken

[asuratman]

is that allu bronze Ni used for mud pump fluid end? I just know that it is hard to machine. How does material was made? Is that allu bronze Ni available on the market as a block?

[Perfect Circle]

Originally Posted by asuratman is that allu bronze Ni used for mud pump fluid end? I just know that it is hard to machine. How does material was made? Is that allu bronze Ni available on the market as a block?

No it was used for some bearings that are in a hydrolyser.... The matl. was solid round bar stock... that is the only way you can get it..I have the name of the company that we buy from if you want some more info. They sell it by the pound for 937 lbs. of it matl. was $12k