[modeleng] Re: Cast Iron Coolant

Here's my two penn'orth on the subject

The casting for the axle boxes on the Sweet Pea is a single cast iron piece 
long enough to make all 4 boxes. The axle boxes are flanged both sides, and 
the casting is roughly the right shape - something like this..

 i-i_____i-i

The end mill I used was working in the skin pretty well everywhere and by 
the time I'd machined the first side the corners of the cutter were well 
rounded. When I did the second side I used coolant and the cutter finished 
the side without noticably rounded corners.

I accept that the skin may have been harder on the first side, and it's the 
only experience I can offer on the subject. I'd certainly consider using 
coolant in future, but not on something nicer to machine like continuous 
cast.

To be honest, I can't see why they bothered to make the casting with a slot 
anyway, a simple rectangular block would have been easier to machine and 
would save very little material.

Cheers,

JohnP

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