Stainless suspension tubing ---

[Reddog]

Possibilities include:

Some of the Chinese stuff is fine. Maybe you got a good one. Is it also straight?

Vogel-song may have had some domestic stuff. Last I called there, he admitted all of the streamline stuff he was getting now was imported. That doesn't mean his entire inventory has turned over enough to be 100% imported.

If it doesn't have line markings that say Plymouth, it pretty much wasn't made here. Excluding the AED stuff.

Some of the Chinese stuff is fine. Maybe you got a good one. Is it also straight?

Yep the streamline stuff was fine .... but two of the 1.125 square tubing [what he sent was 1.135] had "slight bends" at one end ... that was only 2.99 per foot as I bought 100 feet ... all the rectangular and round was great ... rust free and without dents ... he claims that he will not allow his employee's to pull the stuff out of the racks but lift it out to prevent scratches ... easily said ... but no scratches were present

As you say maybe I was lucky ... ...

[Wren]

17-4 stainless is a totally different story. It machines very nicely "half hard" (H1150) with proper tooling, so you can get a finished part that doesn't need plating with excellent mechanical properties. It is expensive, though, so it's hard to justify for bigger parts.

I love 17-4. Really great material for all sorts of little things that need some strength but I don't want to bother with plating. I have only worked with it in H900 state, and it is great to machine and anyone can get a good surface finish.

[starkejt]

I love 17-4. Really great material for all sorts of little things that need some strength but I don't want to bother with plating. I have only worked with it in H900 state, and it is great to machine and anyone can get a good surface finish.

Even you?

[Wren]

Even you?

I almost wrote any idiot can get a good surface finish then deleted it. Yes, even this idiot can get an excellent surface finish in 17-4 H900.

[starkejt]

The properties are not the bestest, but 2011 aluminum is the most fun thing to make chips from IMO.

[nulrich]

I guess there are some fellow CNC geeks on here.

Turning H900 is fine, but it's not much fun to mill and tap! If you need the extra hardness and strength it's a great material.

I like 7075 myself. Machines beautifully and quickly and the mechanical properties are exceptional. Plus I like the way it looks when hardcoated.

Nathan

[starkejt]

I guess there are some fellow CNC geeks on here.

Turning H900 is fine, but it's not much fun to mill and tap! If you need the extra hardness and strength it's a great material.

I like 7075 myself. Machines beautifully and quickly and the mechanical properties are exceptional. Plus I like the way it looks when hardcoated.

Nathan

7075 is great. 2011 lets you take massive cuts and still leave a great finish and make pretty chips, but doesn't have the properties of 7075. And I know CNC is superior, but I still like old school manual iron.

[Wren]

Turning H900 is fine, but it's not much fun to mill and tap! If you need the extra hardness and strength it's a great material.

I like 7075 myself. Machines beautifully and quickly and the mechanical properties are exceptional. Plus I like the way it looks when hardcoated.

Nathan

I personally have not milled on H900, Brandon always took care of that. I did tap a lot of deep holes in it though. It actually went surprisingly well, especially considering I was using a non-exotic plug tap. There was an M01 in there to add some cutting oil as I did not want to go with just the water based coolant in the machine.

Not fun was turning through a hex on H900.

7075 is great. Noticeably lower on the spindle load meter.

[R. Pare]

H900 is not that big a deal - I make insert nuts for the clevis-type endeyes for quite a few of the IRL teams. You just have to realize that the chips are going to be long, stringy, and tough, use good inserts and taps, and lots of coolant (oil is better for tapping).

[Christopher Crowe]

"I guess there are some fellow CNC geeks on here. "

What the heck is "CNC," Nathan?

Clausing lathe, Series 1 Bridgeport -- some brass hammers and only fractional sockets. You know, from when men were men and the women were pregnant.

[romoman]

My favorite Al. is 6061. The shop I ran probably did over a million pounds of it in the 5 years I worked there. Mic 6 plate is pretty good, but kind of gummy.

The most important thing for any material is good tools with correct speeds and feeds. Get the speeds right and the rest is easy.

And for holes or tapping, nothing beats OSG tooling.

[Northwind]

Wren,

Get the 17-4 in the annealed state then send it out for heat treat, Our machinists love the stuff. But then again those guys have to turn 465 stainless and cobalt chrome.

[Wren]

Wren,

Get the 17-4 in the annealed state then send it out for heat treat, Our machinists love the stuff. But then again those guys have to turn 465 stainless and cobalt chrome.

We had it heat treated before machining. I have been told that it machines even easier after the heat treat, but I never tried it annealed.

[Northwind]

17-4 is very dimension stable for post machine heat treat. A lot of the other high cabon stainless steels are not.

[ghickman]

Any of you guys ever care to see bike frames being built pop into our shop, we build about 5,000 custom bike frames per year. Google Avent Cycles, Redman Bikes, Cycle Craft, Badd & Co., Turner, Kaos to name a few.

And yes we can press eliptical shaped CrMo tubing in our 200 ton press up to 34 inches long.

[Reddog]

"I guess there are some fellow CNC geeks on here. "

What the heck is "CNC," Nathan?

Clausing lathe, Series 1 Bridgeport -- some brass hammers and only fractional sockets. You know, from when men were men and the women were pregnant.

Dear fellow "Old Dude"

Clausing lathe, Series 1 Bridgeport -- some brass hammers and only fractional sockets. You know, from when men were men and the women were pregnant.

Do you hand crank [please no jokes] your mill or do you cheat with a "power feed" ?

Red ... [saving for a Servo] ... Dog

[Christopher Crowe]

-- and it's sometime a real workout. But first a DRO -- then maybe some of that lazy man's auto-feed stuff...

Chris

[Reddog]

-- and it's sometime a real workout. But first a DRO -- then maybe some of that lazy man's auto-feed stuff...

Chris

Oh Man ... no DRO? ... wow ... real old school

[Daryl DeArman]

Any of you guys ever care to see bike frames being built pop into our shop, we build about 5,000 custom bike frames per year. Google Avent Cycles, Redman Bikes, Cycle Craft, Badd & Co., Turner, Kaos to name a few.

And yes we can press eliptical shaped CrMo tubing in our 200 ton press up to 34 inches long.

Sweet! We rode a Santana tandem for years! All these composite shops need to get on the cycling component bandwagon. If they knew what a set of SRAM Red levers sold for they'd be all over it.

[starkejt]

I think the carbon Campy Super Record is even a bit higher....