Stuart 10H Hard spots in a casting

Can I please ask how many hard spots a casting can have before you consider it unusable? I'm trying to sort out the box bed for my Stuart 10H and I'm struggling as the file just glides over hard shiny sections and makes cutting it really difficult. I've emailed Stuart and await their response.

Cheers,

Jon.

If I get "Chilled Spots" in cast iron it usually spends a night in the wood burning stove and comes out OK to machine. Even SWMBO never notices.

+1 for Chris's answer

Roy

Stuarts are usually quite good about replacing so wait to you hear back from them before cooking it.

I don't have a wood burning stove; I guess a night on a radiator just wont cut it!

Propane torch may just do it, that is what I usually use

That has potential; I'll see what Stuart say. I have already taken a couple of cuts so hopefully I haven't weakend it too much.

See this link: http://www.homews.co.uk/page215.html

Edited By Jens Eirik Skogstad on 06/03/2018 21:33:24

Suggesting a tipped tool will be OK for facing the surface but you are still stuffed when it comes to drilling and tapping fixing holes if the hard spot is any more than surface chill.

They have said they will send me a replacement with no quibbling at all. I was a bit worried what their customer service would be like after my original order took some months to arrive but they seem to have good after care.

Nothing arrived yet, a month after being told they would send out a replacement. After a delay of over 6 weeks between paying for the kit and it actually turning up I guess Stuart run a fairly slow moving business. Frustrating, but I understand how low volume manufacturers work.

Hi Jon,

I don't have a wood-burning stove either but (as I've mentioned elsewhere here recently) - I do have a garden incinerator.

I compost or 'brown-bin' my soft cuttings but any 'wood' is dried out, cut or chopped up and burnt in the incinerator. I wait till I have a bright fire going (with a red-hot ash bed) and lower the part(s) in to rest on top. I then keep feeding the fire for an hour or so and then let it burn overnight with the lid on.

Next day, there will still be hot ashes in the bottom and the parts will still be pretty warm but the wood fire doesn't get hot enough to damage any steel/cast iron parts. I did once try wrapping a part in kitchen foil to help keep it clean - but the foil melted. So aluminium parts/castings may get damaged doing this but wouldn't benefit from any heat treatment anyway. But for hard spots in castings and for de-stressing steel parts this seems to work OK though... I will eventually get around to trying case-hardening in it as well...

Regards,

IanT

After chasing them a couple of days ago its turned up today. Looks excellent as always.