Plasma cutting bladesteel

C

CDH

Joined
Jun 8, 2007
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283
The guy I talked to was boasting about something around 1000"/min cutting 1" mild steel plate. I only consider this because it is a fab shop we use at work and the guy offered to try it for free...and I have a 36" bar of 154CM waiting to be cut into blades....and I have a CAD layout already done.

Worth a try or asking for trouble? I was particularly worried about depth of decarb and overheating at the cut sites...I know waterjet would avoid all this, but for free (initially, and local in the future) I figured it was worth looking into. Is it workable at all? Plan on oversizing by 1/16" or so to grind out overheated areas?

Would it work better on the simpler steels like 10XX through O1 as opposed to high alloy steels?
 
From what I have read there's some hardening in the zones around the cuts that have to be taken into consideration. You'd have to have the blanks oversized then grind the profile down to clean up the hardened areas. I have no first hand knowledge but just from what I've read. So take this for what it's worth :p
 
You won't get decarb as the time at temperature is too short. You will harden the edges.You could grind it off but tempering , I think, is a better way [1200 F ,1 hour].
 
I have one of the plasma cutters and the 1/16" each cut is fine on plate.By the time you grind the torch marks off the hard is pretty much gone.
 
I have a plasma also. Haven't used it for anything good in 2 years. But free is free and you get what you pay for. In my opinion its not worth all the time it would take to grind and clean up the parts plus all of the scrap it would create. 154Cm is not exactly cheap mid steel. Get him to do a blank or two for you from a piece of mild steel to see if you like it before you hand over the good stuff.;)
 
I've been using a plasma cutter for some 5160 blade blanks and it's workin great but I wouldn't use it for any air hardening steel...just started using some s90v and there's no way that I'll use it for that cuz you look at that stuff crosseyed and it gets hard! Water jet is the way to go with the airhardening! They do cut with plasma submerged but I have no idea how that works...this guy may know but I still wouldn't do it on the air hardening...If it's free, go for it! Bill
 
No dought the water jet is the better way to cut.But if an idea enters my head i can draw it,cut it, and be working on it in no time.If it works out and i wanted a bunch of my design I would send it to the water jet.One more thing,dont cut pin or bolt holes with the plasma,lots of broken drill bits and they wont be close to right.
 
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