Slomo Steel Cutting
June 11, 2012 5:32 PM Subscribe
Like buttah.
posted by CosmicRayCharles at 5:43 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by CosmicRayCharles at 5:43 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
Wow, that was awesome. I couldn't stop rooting for those little chips building up at the end of the blade to hang on! I wish they had a zoomed out view at the end to see what the cuts looked like to the naked eye.
Also, I feel like the music choice is odd -- obviously, they should have gone with something metal.
Oh wait, the magic "flute"! Ha! Obviously these metalworkers are better than me at metallic musical joke puns!
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 5:43 PM on June 11, 2012 [5 favorites]
Also, I feel like the music choice is odd -- obviously, they should have gone with something metal.
Oh wait, the magic "flute"! Ha! Obviously these metalworkers are better than me at metallic musical joke puns!
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 5:43 PM on June 11, 2012 [5 favorites]
Superman would hate a video like this.
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:44 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:44 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
Is that a carbide bit in some sort of mill or lathe?
posted by Ad hominem at 5:49 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by Ad hominem at 5:49 PM on June 11, 2012
DamascusBlue
posted by The White Hat at 5:51 PM on June 11, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by The White Hat at 5:51 PM on June 11, 2012 [3 favorites]
That's really hypnotic, isn't it!
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:51 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:51 PM on June 11, 2012
Wow. While watching something so beautifully fluid I found it hard to bear in mind that this is steel, the hard, strong metal. (And I thought the classical music was completely apropos.)
posted by exphysicist345 at 5:51 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by exphysicist345 at 5:51 PM on June 11, 2012
Everything is fluid (or fluid like) if you put enough pressure on it.
posted by Grimgrin at 5:53 PM on June 11, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Grimgrin at 5:53 PM on June 11, 2012 [3 favorites]
Very tectonic.
posted by mollweide at 6:05 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by mollweide at 6:05 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
Is that a carbide bit in some sort of mill or lathe?
It's probably in something like a shaper, that way the tool moved in a straight line (though if you were turning a big enough cylinder, you might not see the curve of the surface at that scale.
They were describing the tool making the cut in each (or at least most) of the cuts - usually high speed steel with a titanium nitride coating.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:07 PM on June 11, 2012
It's probably in something like a shaper, that way the tool moved in a straight line (though if you were turning a big enough cylinder, you might not see the curve of the surface at that scale.
They were describing the tool making the cut in each (or at least most) of the cuts - usually high speed steel with a titanium nitride coating.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:07 PM on June 11, 2012
Shapers are cool, but even better is a metal planer. The primary difference is that the work piece is fastened to a moving bed, which passes under the cutting tool.
posted by MikeWarot at 6:17 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by MikeWarot at 6:17 PM on June 11, 2012
They were describing the tool making the cut in each (or at least most) of the cuts - usually high speed steel with a titanium nitride coating.
Thanks, I am on my work machine which doesn not have sound. I was looking at the Iscar site and was wondering which of the machines it was.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:18 PM on June 11, 2012
Thanks, I am on my work machine which doesn not have sound. I was looking at the Iscar site and was wondering which of the machines it was.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:18 PM on June 11, 2012
Mesmerizing, but what an ugly mess on a molecular level. 100 years from now, fabricators will shudder at the crude practice of removing material through brute force to make a part.
posted by CynicalKnight at 6:32 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by CynicalKnight at 6:32 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
I must chew these materials. They beg to be bitten. Bitten and chewed, with the canines rather than the molars.
posted by aramaic at 6:34 PM on June 11, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by aramaic at 6:34 PM on June 11, 2012 [4 favorites]
None of those seemed likely to result in a finished surface. I'd like to see further videos showing a finishing pass.
It appears to me that one can design bit faces that will capture sacrificial metal to use as the wearing edge.
I'd like to see an ultra-sharp bit at work. Does the metal behave differently? There were enormous differences between uncoated and coated blades!
posted by five fresh fish at 6:44 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
It appears to me that one can design bit faces that will capture sacrificial metal to use as the wearing edge.
I'd like to see an ultra-sharp bit at work. Does the metal behave differently? There were enormous differences between uncoated and coated blades!
posted by five fresh fish at 6:44 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
Pfft. Soft materials porn. Here's the hard stuff.
posted by Oddly at 7:09 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Oddly at 7:09 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
I have a sudden craving for fudge after watching this.
posted by arcticseal at 7:31 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by arcticseal at 7:31 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
Hey! I've designed one of those!
What you're looking at is a single point cutting tool. They're ridiculously complicated, and they come in tons of shapes and sizes. If you think of the cutting tool as looking something like a parallelogram, with the tip of the shape coming into contact with the cutting surface, there are seven different angles on that tool that comprise the tool signature, six angles (back rake, side rake, end relief, side relief, end cutting edge, and side cutting edge), and then the nose radius. These are all very important, and if you get any of these parameters wrong then bad things happen, like chatter, or the wrong surface is imparted to your workpiece (some tools are for finishing, some are for cutting quickly), or the thing shatters apart (you want the tool to break first, not the workpiece, so we design failure points into the tool holder).
If you look at the pointy end of the cutting tool in the video, you'll see that it's not actually sharp like a knife blade. It's rounded (that's the nose radius mentioned above). The nose radius is key in determining surface roughness. The smaller the radius, the rougher the cut. The larger the radius, the smoother the finished piece will be. There's actually a formula for it, where you divide your feed rate by your nose radius to get your surface roughness.
I couldn't stop rooting for those little chips building up at the end of the blade to hang on!
Chip formation is another area of study when it comes to tool design. The chip is carrying away excess material (obviously) but also excess heat. When ductile materials are cut, you want your chips to be continuous, like long curly metal ribbons. Harder materials will form smaller, discontinuous chips. When you're building up continuous chips, the chip is basically flowing across the face of the tool. You'll get a continuous chip when the friction force of the chip across the tool is less than the shear force of the material you're cutting. This is really where speed comes into play, along with tool signature.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:31 PM on June 11, 2012 [59 favorites]
What you're looking at is a single point cutting tool. They're ridiculously complicated, and they come in tons of shapes and sizes. If you think of the cutting tool as looking something like a parallelogram, with the tip of the shape coming into contact with the cutting surface, there are seven different angles on that tool that comprise the tool signature, six angles (back rake, side rake, end relief, side relief, end cutting edge, and side cutting edge), and then the nose radius. These are all very important, and if you get any of these parameters wrong then bad things happen, like chatter, or the wrong surface is imparted to your workpiece (some tools are for finishing, some are for cutting quickly), or the thing shatters apart (you want the tool to break first, not the workpiece, so we design failure points into the tool holder).
If you look at the pointy end of the cutting tool in the video, you'll see that it's not actually sharp like a knife blade. It's rounded (that's the nose radius mentioned above). The nose radius is key in determining surface roughness. The smaller the radius, the rougher the cut. The larger the radius, the smoother the finished piece will be. There's actually a formula for it, where you divide your feed rate by your nose radius to get your surface roughness.
I couldn't stop rooting for those little chips building up at the end of the blade to hang on!
Chip formation is another area of study when it comes to tool design. The chip is carrying away excess material (obviously) but also excess heat. When ductile materials are cut, you want your chips to be continuous, like long curly metal ribbons. Harder materials will form smaller, discontinuous chips. When you're building up continuous chips, the chip is basically flowing across the face of the tool. You'll get a continuous chip when the friction force of the chip across the tool is less than the shear force of the material you're cutting. This is really where speed comes into play, along with tool signature.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:31 PM on June 11, 2012 [59 favorites]
Whoa, all these clips are amazing. OK -- I have decided that I am going to get into machining and metalworking now! Anybody here know the best book/source for learning this stuff?
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 7:32 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 7:32 PM on June 11, 2012
100 years from now, fabricators will shudder at the crude practice of removing material through brute force to make a part.
I suppose you also think they'll it's barbaric to cut a hole in somebody's skull to relieve pressure in brain fluid in 100 years? Maybe they'll be using their precision metal tools to slice through transparent aluminum elegantly.
posted by Barry B. Palindromer at 7:38 PM on June 11, 2012 [2 favorites]
I suppose you also think they'll it's barbaric to cut a hole in somebody's skull to relieve pressure in brain fluid in 100 years? Maybe they'll be using their precision metal tools to slice through transparent aluminum elegantly.
posted by Barry B. Palindromer at 7:38 PM on June 11, 2012 [2 favorites]
The nose radius is key in determining surface roughness.
You can see that for one of the pieces half way through the video - the tool is bouncing away from the work and leaving irregular chips.
It would have been neat to see the ships/chavings for each segment.
posted by sneebler at 7:39 PM on June 11, 2012
You can see that for one of the pieces half way through the video - the tool is bouncing away from the work and leaving irregular chips.
It would have been neat to see the ships/chavings for each segment.
posted by sneebler at 7:39 PM on June 11, 2012
Slicing through steel in extreme slow motion.
I can't imagine myself doing it any other way.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:42 PM on June 11, 2012 [3 favorites]
I can't imagine myself doing it any other way.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:42 PM on June 11, 2012 [3 favorites]
I've seen still frames from this video illustrated in a dozen textbooks, but the video really brings the physics to life. I can see the shear planes! (indicative of ductile material :)
posted by Popular Ethics at 7:42 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by Popular Ethics at 7:42 PM on June 11, 2012
I hear the Paul Anka cutting tool slices like a hammer.
posted by basicchannel at 8:01 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by basicchannel at 8:01 PM on June 11, 2012
DU, I did enjoy that, all the experiments and comparisons to show why the cutting tool is shaped the way it is.
And then when they're all, "We'll shape the cutting tool using a machine called a cutter grinder," I'm all, "Oh, but how do you make the cutter grinder!?!?"
posted by RobotHero at 8:29 PM on June 11, 2012
And then when they're all, "We'll shape the cutting tool using a machine called a cutter grinder," I'm all, "Oh, but how do you make the cutter grinder!?!?"
posted by RobotHero at 8:29 PM on June 11, 2012
Man, that triggers my ASMR.
posted by sourwookie at 8:29 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by sourwookie at 8:29 PM on June 11, 2012
Hey! I've designed one of those!
Gems like this are why I keep coming back to Metafilter. Today, I know 1000% more about cutting metal than I did yesterday.
posted by Loudmax at 8:44 PM on June 11, 2012
Gems like this are why I keep coming back to Metafilter. Today, I know 1000% more about cutting metal than I did yesterday.
posted by Loudmax at 8:44 PM on June 11, 2012
Oh yeah. It's fudge. No, no... wait a minute. It looks like a cold front moving in next week. Better bring a jacket. No, I'm wrong about that. It's the bow of a ship moving through the ocean. No, it's a snake trying to swallow a triangle, isn't it? That can't be right. It reminds me a lot of the cutting process during Iscar Chip formation, but... Wait a minute, IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS? The way her legs are spread... it's, it's.... I'm coming!
This needs a NSWF tag
posted by twoleftfeet at 10:25 PM on June 11, 2012
This needs a NSWF tag
posted by twoleftfeet at 10:25 PM on June 11, 2012
Or a NSFW tag. Or a NSWTF tag, which means "Not Sure. What the Fuck?"
posted by twoleftfeet at 10:36 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by twoleftfeet at 10:36 PM on June 11, 2012
While in college I spent a couple of years working at a hardware store. The most fascinating part of my job was cutting and threading pipe. For a little, skinny guy, being able to control the threader while it shaved metal off the pipe came with a sense of raw power.
Neat video...thanks!
posted by HuronBob at 2:37 AM on June 12, 2012
Neat video...thanks!
posted by HuronBob at 2:37 AM on June 12, 2012
Oh yeah, I remember the day we had to go in the back room of the hardware store for something and I saw the pipe threading machine in action. I was like...WHOA. Cutting *metal*? I must have been...10? 12? That event probably contributed more than I realize to me taking up hobby machining as an adult.
posted by DU at 2:43 AM on June 12, 2012
posted by DU at 2:43 AM on June 12, 2012
If George Foreman made a steel cutting tool I am sure it would cut more cleanly than these. Every time.
posted by MuffinMan at 2:56 AM on June 12, 2012
posted by MuffinMan at 2:56 AM on June 12, 2012
Makes me crave clay to work. I haven't touched clay in decades.
posted by Goofyy at 4:14 AM on June 12, 2012
posted by Goofyy at 4:14 AM on June 12, 2012
Here's the hard stuff.
Are you talking about the tools? Because that workpiece sure looks like aluminum. Or maybe you mean the difficulty of the cuts, which is mostly because they're inside a bore. They are more difficult, but I have done all those cuts using HSS tools I ground by hand.
The FPP video has a piece of "stainless steel" being cut at the end. I assume it's free-machining stainless. If it were something like 316, THAT would be hard
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:26 AM on June 12, 2012
Are you talking about the tools? Because that workpiece sure looks like aluminum. Or maybe you mean the difficulty of the cuts, which is mostly because they're inside a bore. They are more difficult, but I have done all those cuts using HSS tools I ground by hand.
The FPP video has a piece of "stainless steel" being cut at the end. I assume it's free-machining stainless. If it were something like 316, THAT would be hard
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:26 AM on June 12, 2012
My late father was a metallurgical engineer who worked for a company specializing in specialty tool steel metals, and this video would have made him very, very happy. It's serious tool porn.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:23 AM on June 12, 2012
posted by kinnakeet at 5:23 AM on June 12, 2012
"Oh, but how do you make the cutter grinder!?!?"
Some crazy bastard wrote a series of books on how to build your own machine shop from scratch. You start by making a forge and pouring out sand castings. You use your sand castings to make a lathe. You use the lathe to make a shaper. Each stage produces the tools you need to make the next stage.
It'd probably take you about thirty years, but that's fast-forward compared to hundreds of years of industrial metalworking. It's on my list of "this would be AWESOME and I will never ever do it."
posted by echo target at 6:17 AM on June 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
Some crazy bastard wrote a series of books on how to build your own machine shop from scratch. You start by making a forge and pouring out sand castings. You use your sand castings to make a lathe. You use the lathe to make a shaper. Each stage produces the tools you need to make the next stage.
It'd probably take you about thirty years, but that's fast-forward compared to hundreds of years of industrial metalworking. It's on my list of "this would be AWESOME and I will never ever do it."
posted by echo target at 6:17 AM on June 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
Gingery doesn't cover building a cutter grinder. You can use a regular bench grinder to grind HSS tools.
posted by DU at 6:21 AM on June 12, 2012
posted by DU at 6:21 AM on June 12, 2012
Pfft. Soft materials porn. Here's the hard stuff.
Boring!
posted by stargell at 6:49 AM on June 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Boring!
posted by stargell at 6:49 AM on June 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Hey! I've designed one of those!
This is why I love metafilter, and keep coming back. Somebody posts an "isn't this cool?" link, and before too long, somebody else pops up who is an expert on the subject.
Thanks s40s and kmz!
posted by crazy_yeti at 7:19 AM on June 12, 2012
This is why I love metafilter, and keep coming back. Somebody posts an "isn't this cool?" link, and before too long, somebody else pops up who is an expert on the subject.
Thanks s40s and kmz!
posted by crazy_yeti at 7:19 AM on June 12, 2012
The second one (ESR steel workpiece, 30° rake angle, HSS tool uncoated) had me wincing by the end. That stuff just look like it just does not want to be cut.
posted by flabdablet at 8:52 AM on June 12, 2012
posted by flabdablet at 8:52 AM on June 12, 2012
Metafilter: where you divide your feed rate by your nose radius to get your surface roughness
posted by braksandwich at 10:17 AM on June 12, 2012
posted by braksandwich at 10:17 AM on June 12, 2012
Youtube comment:
> I want to eat it! I want to chew it!
had me in stitches. What is it about viewing this that induces a compulsion within me to rend it with my teeth with an animalistic glee?
posted by danl at 10:59 AM on June 12, 2012
> I want to eat it! I want to chew it!
had me in stitches. What is it about viewing this that induces a compulsion within me to rend it with my teeth with an animalistic glee?
posted by danl at 10:59 AM on June 12, 2012
Unless you're Jaws from the James Bond movie, I advise that you don't try that.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:01 AM on June 12, 2012
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:01 AM on June 12, 2012
Does this tool normally cut without coolant? How is the cutting tool not getting damaged by excess heat?
Maybe they didn't use coolant so that they could film the video? That would explain the roughness of the finished cuts.
posted by double block and bleed at 1:49 PM on June 12, 2012
Maybe they didn't use coolant so that they could film the video? That would explain the roughness of the finished cuts.
posted by double block and bleed at 1:49 PM on June 12, 2012
Kirth Gerson: "Here's the hard stuff.
Are you talking about the tools?"
He means "hard stuff" as opposed to "soft materials porn". As in "here is hardcore materials porn".
It was a sex joke.
posted by Bugbread at 2:50 PM on June 12, 2012
Are you talking about the tools?"
He means "hard stuff" as opposed to "soft materials porn". As in "here is hardcore materials porn".
It was a sex joke.
posted by Bugbread at 2:50 PM on June 12, 2012
But his link went to more metal-cutting videos.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:06 PM on June 12, 2012
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:06 PM on June 12, 2012
The part of the video he linked to, it really doesn't seem reminiscent of anything porn-like to you?
posted by Bugbread at 3:18 PM on June 12, 2012
posted by Bugbread at 3:18 PM on June 12, 2012
How is the cutting tool not getting damaged by excess heat?
Who says it's not? You don't have to use coolant/lubrication, but it will go a long way in preventing tool failure. At high speeds, a steady stream of lubricant pouring onto your cutting tool actually provides little lubrication, but it will work effectively as a coolant. Heat buildup is the number one reason for premature tool wear.
Metafilter: where you divide your feed rate by your nose radius to get your surface roughness
If you wanna get all technical about it, the formula we use is Ra = 0.321(f^2)/r, where Ra is the surface roughness in micro-inches, f is the feed, in inches, and r is the nose radius, in inches.
Earlier I said that it's feed rate, and actually it's just feed, which is usually given in inches per revolution.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 5:31 PM on June 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Who says it's not? You don't have to use coolant/lubrication, but it will go a long way in preventing tool failure. At high speeds, a steady stream of lubricant pouring onto your cutting tool actually provides little lubrication, but it will work effectively as a coolant. Heat buildup is the number one reason for premature tool wear.
Metafilter: where you divide your feed rate by your nose radius to get your surface roughness
If you wanna get all technical about it, the formula we use is Ra = 0.321(f^2)/r, where Ra is the surface roughness in micro-inches, f is the feed, in inches, and r is the nose radius, in inches.
Earlier I said that it's feed rate, and actually it's just feed, which is usually given in inches per revolution.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 5:31 PM on June 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Inches, really? I had kind of assumed that most technical calculations had all moved over to metric by now.
posted by Bugbread at 6:11 PM on June 12, 2012
posted by Bugbread at 6:11 PM on June 12, 2012
I had kind of assumed that most technical calculations had all moved over to metric by now.
In the civilized world, yes. In the US, not by a long shot.
posted by DU at 6:59 PM on June 12, 2012
In the civilized world, yes. In the US, not by a long shot.
posted by DU at 6:59 PM on June 12, 2012
Yeah, it really just depends on the application. Some specs come in metric, others in imperial. There are a ton of formulas to figure out all those angles and what not, and those are almost always in imperial.
A lot of people talk about how it's easier to add fractions in their heads, like when dealing with carpentry, but I'll take metric any day. Base ten, for the win.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:18 PM on June 12, 2012
A lot of people talk about how it's easier to add fractions in their heads, like when dealing with carpentry, but I'll take metric any day. Base ten, for the win.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:18 PM on June 12, 2012
Lee Valley Tools sells a treatise by Mr. Lee re: everything ever about sharpening. Lots of microphotographs, lots of science.
There must be other, similar works.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:55 PM on June 12, 2012
There must be other, similar works.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:55 PM on June 12, 2012
Fractions in your head can be easier, but only under certain conditions does that help. 1 3/8 - 3/16? 1 3/16, that's easy. Whereas 1.375 - .1875 is a little harder.
But that's far from the whole story. Last night I needed to know 5/8 * 1/12 for a threading depth. That's 5/96, which is the easy part. But what do I dial in on the lathe compound feed, which is in decimal inches? It's not even on my decimal conversion chart, which only covers denominators that are powers of 2 up to 64. Had to run get a calculator to convert that to "thous" (it's .052" and change).
I would definitely rather work in metric. But the old manual machinery I want to use is all inches (and probably most of the new tools I'd buy in the US would be inches anyway). Some people say you just use the old inch tools and just buy a metric ruler to measure it with, but that sounds like nonsense to me. The gearing is all inch ratios, the feed collars are (decimal) inches, the drill sizes are inches, etc. Sure, you can make the odd metric part on inch tools but if you are going to make metric things consistently you really need to set up a metric shop.
posted by DU at 4:41 AM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
But that's far from the whole story. Last night I needed to know 5/8 * 1/12 for a threading depth. That's 5/96, which is the easy part. But what do I dial in on the lathe compound feed, which is in decimal inches? It's not even on my decimal conversion chart, which only covers denominators that are powers of 2 up to 64. Had to run get a calculator to convert that to "thous" (it's .052" and change).
I would definitely rather work in metric. But the old manual machinery I want to use is all inches (and probably most of the new tools I'd buy in the US would be inches anyway). Some people say you just use the old inch tools and just buy a metric ruler to measure it with, but that sounds like nonsense to me. The gearing is all inch ratios, the feed collars are (decimal) inches, the drill sizes are inches, etc. Sure, you can make the odd metric part on inch tools but if you are going to make metric things consistently you really need to set up a metric shop.
posted by DU at 4:41 AM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
FFF, Lee's book looks interesting, if oriented primarily to woodworking tools. I recommend John Juranitch's The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening. He says nothing about preparing edges to cut steel, but he does shave his face with an axe.
posted by maniabug at 5:47 AM on June 13, 2012
posted by maniabug at 5:47 AM on June 13, 2012
Another good one: Fundamentals of Tool Design.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 6:33 AM on June 13, 2012
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 6:33 AM on June 13, 2012
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