Author Topic: Working With Cast Iron  (Read 1997 times)

Rick

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Working With Cast Iron
« on: February 08, 2011, 03:13:08 AM »
I am tring to chamfer two screw holes in a cast iron butt plate I'm installing and I am having the devil of a time.  I was able to drill through it ok, but the chamfering tools I'm using won't bite into the iron.  I'm using HSS counter sinks.  How do I treat this metal so I can finish up these holes?  Thanks!  Rick

fix

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Re: Working With Cast Iron
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2011, 03:20:29 AM »
How hot did you get the metal when drilling the holes? If you got it really hot it might have hardened it.
You may need to anneal it again in order to save your bits.

Just heat up to a good red heat and cool very slowly. I use hardwood ash for the cooling. Warm the ash with another chunk of hot metal, slip the extra chunk of metal out of the ash and slide the but plate in where it came out. Leave it alone to cool completely and the next day it should be dead soft.

If you don't want to anneal it, you may be able to grind the chamfers instead.


Rick

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Re: Working With Cast Iron
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2011, 07:14:46 AM »
Thanks for the advice, Fix.  I've never encountered an iron butt plate this ornary!  Even after annealing it, my countersinks wouldn't touch it so I ended up using a cone-shaped grinding bit for a dremmel and took care of the chamfers very nicely.  Rick