Which drill rod ?

[lugnut]

A while back I ordered some drill rod from Enco to have some nice rod on hand for things like the pistons for my Elbow Engine. I ordered Oil hardening rod. I didn't like the way it machined (probably just me) now I need some more 1/4 to have on hand.
My question is which do you all prefer? Water, Oil, or Air hardening? I want something that reasonably machineable. :roll:
The price is about the same, well air harding is more but still not bad.
Mel

 

[Tin Falcon]

I usually get what is on sale
A while back my son and I dismantled some old computer printers. I was just machining one of the roller rods from one .machines great. And it was free!!
Tin

 

[gt2ride]

I use water on my eng. Turns ok but not great.

 

[Sprocket]

I've been getting oil hardening, use it for making small tools, dip it in ATF.
Haven't had too much trouble cutting/machining it. Cobalt tools, honed as sharp as I can get them. If you are using carbide, I could never get it sharp,
green stone and diamond file and it still wasn't sharp enough. Too darn hard to remove any from the tool. (You may have guessed I didn't like it)

Doug

 

[macona]

Are you actually using the drill rod for it hardening capabilities or just because it is a ground finish?

For the little things I have made I prefer oil hardening simply because it is cheapest. I have a little electric kiln that allows me to accurately harden small parts.

If I want something for shafting get normalized ground shafting from a local supplier. You can weld the stuff which is not recommended for drill rod.

 

[Hexbasher]

I don't machine alot of tool steels but I make alot of my personal (and the shops too) jigs, fixtures, tools and tooling from O-1 drill rod...its cheap. I always have a personal stock the top of my tool box

made all the feelers for my co-axial indicator from it, parts for my zero-it, made taps from it, little boring bars for BS jobs, made tap extensions, tool makers buttons, etc etc.

i;ve turned, milled, brazed, and harden O-1 (nothing too fansy with the hardening, just used a rose-bud and quenched in gear oil, i know have to use the proper ovens, its just we don't have any)

i use the best indexable inserts we have....if the insert is chipping i rarely think of grinding a neg. rake and i just go find a better insert or better tool ..i've had little good results with tooling with 0.0156 TNR unless its a very light cut (or profiling), so 0.0313 it is.....i've found they don't have to be a pos rake insert (aka with or with out a chip breaker as well)

i never really tried brazed all that much on O-1, the brazed tooling we buy are somewhat cheap and we've found a niche for them with turning finish diameters in my shop on alloys and bronze (my boss is alil old school like that)