08-18-2012, 06:54 PM
I too like machining the high alloy steels. they break chips and can offer a nice finish with the right tooling run at the right speeds and feeds. Carbide insert turning tools and solid carbide (and/or carbide insert) milling tools rule the day for machining it. With HSS tooling, things can take 4 to 10 times longer, and I'm not getting any younger while watching HSS tooling plod along. ;)
I tend to go for the pre heat-treated varieties as that usually meets most requirements for material tensile strength. True Stressproof 1144 can be hard to find, as many sellers try to pass off regular 1144 as being stress proof. When you do get it, it machines like butter. Common 1018 cold rolled steel is worse to machine (IMO) than most other steels unless you can really apply carbide and get some heat into the chips. With HSS the chips stay cool and never harden up enough to break. I do machine 1018 from time to time, but not if I have a choice of instead using 12L14, 1117, or the 414x alloys.
I tend to go for the pre heat-treated varieties as that usually meets most requirements for material tensile strength. True Stressproof 1144 can be hard to find, as many sellers try to pass off regular 1144 as being stress proof. When you do get it, it machines like butter. Common 1018 cold rolled steel is worse to machine (IMO) than most other steels unless you can really apply carbide and get some heat into the chips. With HSS the chips stay cool and never harden up enough to break. I do machine 1018 from time to time, but not if I have a choice of instead using 12L14, 1117, or the 414x alloys.