On 2021-03-11 06:28, Chris Albertson wrote:
What's the best kind of steel to buy that gives a combination of machinability on a small mill and strength.
I would be inclined to try EN8T which is a machinable steel with some tensile strength that can easily be hardened afterwards, using an oxy-acetylene torch. Or the even better EN40T, which is tougher and more ductile. The T denotes that it is supplied in the hardened and tenpered state, but it machines very nicely. I hagve used EN40T in the lathe and the mill, and it gives a good finish without much difficulty. I have used EN40T for making replacement parts for a large hydraulic bender for stainless steel pipe, where the steel was roughly cone-shaped and was used by being forced into a set of hardened 'fingers' to swage the end of a pipe, so it was highly stressed and subject to wear. I didn't do any heat treatment - that was to be done by the owner of the machine (although I am not convinced they bothered).
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