Roderick Jenkins | 13/08/2023 16:18:35 |
![]() 2376 forum posts 800 photos | Does anybody have any experience of using EN8M (212M36, 1140) as an alternative to the no longer available free-cutting silver steel for making pinions (or, indeed, anything else)? Cheers, Rod |
roy entwistle | 13/08/2023 16:35:08 |
1716 forum posts | Is free cutting silver steel no longer available ? Roy |
Peter Bell | 13/08/2023 16:46:41 |
399 forum posts 167 photos | I've used EN24T previously with great success using Thornton cutters and left it in it's natural state after polishing. Peter |
lfoggy | 13/08/2023 20:43:33 |
![]() 231 forum posts 5 photos | I've used silver steel, EN8 and EN24 for making clock pinions. The EN24 is by far the best. Cuts quite easily with a Thornton HSS cutter with flood coolant leaving a very good finish that requires minimal polishing. The EN24t is already hardened and tempered and no further heat treatment is required. The silver steel cuts less well and gives a less good finish and needs hardening but is OK. The EN8 can't really be hardened in the average home workshop. If you don't have J Malcolm Wild's book 'Wheel and Pinion Cutting in Horology' I would recommend this.... Edited By lfoggy on 13/08/2023 20:44:38 Edited By lfoggy on 13/08/2023 20:45:35 |
Roderick Jenkins | 13/08/2023 23:57:14 |
![]() 2376 forum posts 800 photos | Thanks for the comments. My tentative plan is to make a pinion cutter from silver steel backed off with my Eureka tool. My fear is that EN24T may be a bit much for the carbon steel cutter. I note Ifoggy's comments about hardening EN8 and have referred back to a previous thread. I do have a small electric furnace and made Lammas' hardness tester so maybe some experimentation is called for The recent talk here on simple clocks has led me down a rabbit hole and piqued my interest for the next project. Rod |
Mark Rand | 14/08/2023 08:13:18 |
1505 forum posts 56 photos | Carbon steel will cut EN24T quite well. Just keep the speed well down. |
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