can steel be routered?

Post by **hammey** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 5:23 pm

yep... its called milling

Post by **85lux** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 5:26 pm

brilliant

Post by **lump_a_charcoal** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 8:19 pm

School holidays?

Post by **Struth** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 8:34 pm

Yes it can, but the finish will be crap and the router bit won't last much more than 0.5 seconds. Wear safety glasses, a face shield and a ballistics vest if you try it, that way all the flying tungsten and hi speed steel shouldn't actually kill you

Post by **sloshy** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 8:42 pm

Struth wrote:Yes it can, but the finish will be crap and the router bit won't last much more than 0.5 seconds. Wear safety glasses, a face shield and a ballistics vest if you try it, that way all the flying tungsten and hi speed steel shouldn't actually kill you

And upload to pootube

Post by **Ice** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:42 pm

lol what rigidity....

honestly there is a reason why machines that cut steel are big and robust

Post by **shortyq** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:55 pm

you can machine aluminium with most wood machinery!
not steel!
wear ppe!

Post by **rockcrawler31** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 7:17 am

Guys take it easy. Nobody is born a fabrication guru, not even you guys. Maybe he is a young fella, maybe not, but better the question be asked than not even if it's just curiousity.

If they're sincere there's no stupid questions, only stuck up, retarded answers

Post by **Struth** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 7:56 am

rockcrawler31 wrote:Guys take it easy. Nobody is born a fabrication guru, not even you guys. Maybe he is a young fella, maybe not, but better the question be asked than not even if it's just curiousity.

If they're sincere there's no stupid questions, only stuck up, retarded answers

Sorry mum

The answer is no, the tool and the cutter are likely to disintegrate and cause dangerous shrapnel to be thrown all over the place at high speeds.

The main issues are that the cutting tool is not designed for steel, the router will rotate at too high an rpm or if slowed down have not enough power to turn a tool in steel.

It is simply that the router is designed to cut soft material at high rpms and this is not how you machine steel.

Cheers

Post by **crunk81us** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 9:32 am

maybe he didn't know it was called milling and it was a general question asking how it is done.. I was actually wondering the same thing myself the other day... I would never have considered using a wood router though!

Post by **Yo_jono** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 10:15 am

Milling.. Way of the future! :p

Post by **bigbear** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 12:08 pm

I think someone is tryin to make a hawse fairlead lol

I have routered aluminium on a slow setting, and it is a shit finish. If you do, take small bites. Many runs better than 1 big "omg im taking shitloads off right now, omgwtf whats all that smoke coming out of the motor" cutting stroke.

Post by **85lux** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:03 pm

isn't there a handheld tool called a beveler,
i cant find it on their website, but the 2008 hare and forbes catalogue lists on P98.
portable hand beveller.
Part no HB15B
0-15mm bevel
ideal for bevelling before welding
.....

so, yes it can be routed, just with a dedicated tool called a beveller, and it uses a dedicated cutter.

Post by **tanz-e** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:57 pm

bevellers>???
are there electric ones...
that'd be handy!!!

Post by **tanz-e** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:03 pm

Joined: 10 Feb 2009

Location: Montrose, Victoria

PostPosted: Fri Oct 09, 2009 12:08 pm Reply with quote Back to top
I think someone is tryin to make a hawse fairlead lol Laughing

I have routered aluminium on a slow setting, and it is a shit finish. If you do, take small bites. Many runs better than 1 big "omg im taking shitloads off right now, omgwtf whats all that smoke coming out of the motor" cutting stroke.

_________________
...they call me biggins

lol.. alumuniums completely different...
but your thoughts follow mine...

Post by **KiwiBacon** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:07 pm

tanz-e wrote:bevellers>???
are there electric ones...
that'd be handy!!!

Sure are. I'ved used them before on mild steel tool bolsters.

Post by **joshy** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:08 pm

85lux wrote:isn't there a handheld tool called a beveler,
i cant find it on their website, but the 2008 hare and forbes catalogue lists on P98.
portable hand beveller.
Part no HB15B
0-15mm bevel
ideal for bevelling before welding
.....

so, yes it can be routed, just with a dedicated tool called a beveller, and it uses a dedicated cutter.

last place i worked at had an air operated one. worked a treat.

Post by **Harb** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:27 pm

Actaully it can be done.

I actually have used a router to bevel Ally before welding and also to cut a grove in a big piece of checker plate as well..... a few times actually.
I used a big Makita machine with some Milling bits..... not wood bits !

So the answer is yes.......you can if you set it up right.

The trick is you have to use a piece of wood g clamped in position as a guide, and use heaps of WD40....

Ypu can cut Ally Plate with a circular saw as well with the right blade.

I have a purpose built Circular Steel saw, but I have seen plenty of bokes us a normal saw with the proper baldes..... easy as

Post by **85lux** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 7:16 pm

i've cut 65mm 5083 ally plate with my 9 1/4" makita circular saw. i set up a guide and took it in 10mm deep cuts. worked a treat.

Post by **Shadow** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 7:32 pm

I cut alloy all the time with my drop saw and power saws and do not have a special blade.

The more teeth the blade has the better, but in reality just go real slow and make sure the material cant grab and get pulled into the saw and you wont have a problem.

Routering alloy however, cant say i would try that, but in theory as others said, with the right bit it could be done.

Post by **bigbear** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:40 pm

tanz-e wrote:Joined: 10 Feb 2009

Location: Montrose, Victoria

PostPosted: Fri Oct 09, 2009 12:08 pm Reply with quote Back to top
I think someone is tryin to make a hawse fairlead lol Laughing

I have routered aluminium on a slow setting, and it is a shit finish. If you do, take small bites. Many runs better than 1 big "omg im taking shitloads off right now, omgwtf whats all that smoke coming out of the motor" cutting stroke.

_________________
...they call me biggins

lol.. alumuniums completely different...
but your thoughts follow mine...

lol no worries, next time just hit the quote button at the far right and it will do what I think you were tryin.

And yeh I was talkin aluminium, but steel, no way would I router it.

Cheers

Post by **tanz-e** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:27 pm

mmm... oh well...
maybe ill try alot of grinding...
cant talk the old man into buying a milling machine...

Post by **bigbear** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:37 pm

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Lathe ... Attachment

Post by **fester2au** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:00 pm

Shadow wrote:I cut alloy all the time with my drop saw and power saws and do not have a special blade.

The more teeth the blade has the better, but in reality just go real slow and make sure the material cant grab and get pulled into the saw and you wont have a problem.

Routering alloy however, cant say i would try that, but in theory as others said, with the right bit it could be done.

routering ally is far more common than you may think. We used to weld up irrigation spray units for a guy who sold them to Silvan and he had a CNC controlled router for cutting the components out of 5083 3mm sheet. Shite load of shaving around his shed but from what I saw it was done dry router was pretty tough but still a router not a mill and material held down on a vacuum bed or sometimes just screwed down. Edge finish was pretty good along the cut lines. He certainly didn't finish the edges with anything extra.

you can also buy a ally cutting blade for a 4" angle grinder that looks like a small circular saw blade, pretty scary looking. I had to use one of these blades on the flat a couple of times to shave the checkers off the edge of a length of checker plate so I could get the checcker plate cladding to fit in the groove of the wall sheeting of my offroad van.

Post by **KiwiBacon** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:33 am

fester2au wrote:
Shadow wrote:I cut alloy all the time with my drop saw and power saws and do not have a special blade.

The more teeth the blade has the better, but in reality just go real slow and make sure the material cant grab and get pulled into the saw and you wont have a problem.

Routering alloy however, cant say i would try that, but in theory as others said, with the right bit it could be done.
routering ally is far more common than you may think. We used to weld up irrigation spray units for a guy who sold them to Silvan and he had a CNC controlled router for cutting the components out of 5083 3mm sheet. Shite load of shaving around his shed but from what I saw it was done dry router was pretty tough but still a router not a mill and material held down on a vacuum bed or sometimes just screwed down. Edge finish was pretty good along the cut lines. He certainly didn't finish the edges with anything extra.

you can also buy a ally cutting blade for a 4" angle grinder that looks like a small circular saw blade, pretty scary looking. I had to use one of these blades on the flat a couple of times to shave the checkers off the edge of a length of checker plate so I could get the checcker plate cladding to fit in the groove of the wall sheeting of my offroad van.

I recently designed a water tanker for a truck. The sheetmetal part files were simple emailled to a guy with a big router (takes 6m x 1.8m sheets) and he buzzed them out of the same 5083 (marine grade) aluminium plate mentioned above. But 6mm thick.

Fast, easy and saves a huge amount of $$ too.

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can steel be routered?

can steel be routered?

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