Need help, buy or build to cut steel, stainless steel, titanium etc

[gavztheouch]

Has anyone ever machined stainless or titanium? I have a feeling even a Bridgeport knee mill would struggle and that is way beyond the strength of a home brew cnc. Would it be possible to use something softer and then have it induction hardend after machining?

[FatFreddie]

Has anyone ever machined stainless or titanium? I have a feeling even a Bridgeport knee mill would struggle and that is way beyond the strength of a home brew cnc. Would it be possible to use something softer and then have it induction hardend after machining?

The description "stainless" covers a very wide range of alloys - some are quite easy to machine, others difficult. A Bridgeport in decent nick shouldn't have any problem with most varieties in the sizes we're talking about here. I've cut it on a horrible Clarkes combi lathe / mill and while the finish wasn't like glass it was ok, The chuck is still covered with the residue from the vaporised coolant though (no flood coolant, just a hand held spray) :-)

Similarly, Titanium comes in a wide variety of alloys and tempers but a good quality mill should cut most of the alloys ok if you get your setup correct (cooling, fixturing, tooling, feed rates etc).

http://www.kennametal.com/content/da..._Aerospace.pdf.