The Home Machinist!

I'm trying to modify a cheap import stud remover (designed to work like two jamb nuts) into a type of collet style stud remover. Part of the modification requires milling one piece down so it's not quite so long. It's about the size of a 3/4" socket and the metallurgy is very hard. My guess is that it is similar metal as an impact socket. I tried using a 3/8", 1/2" and 3/4" end mills, all with poor results. I chucked it up in my old Atlas lathe and tried using a carbide tool. It still was very difficult to even take off a small amount.
Any advice on cutter type and RPM would be appreciated?

In a recent project I had to modify a couple of flex sockets for use in the setup. What I learned is that they are surface hardened, and will cut if you can get beneath the skin. I'm not suggesting that yours will be the same, but they may be.

Does this lend itself to grinding? If so, you might consider that as a means of achieving the desired end.

Post a picture of the part, and better describe what you want to do with it. That may yield a solution to the problem.

H

I am with Harold on this...I have cut similar items in half with a 1/16" cut off wheel in a 5" hand grinder after finding out they are hard all the way through...and sometimes brittle (depends on who made them...) -> and attacking them with anything other than carbide tooling in a very rigid setup is a waste of time.

It ain't pretty, but if the goal is 2 pieces, it will get you there in a short period of time, after which you MAY be able to work it with carbide tools, or simply grind it 'smooth' and call it a day.

Belt grinder.

Harold/Bill
Here is a photo of the pieces I modified and what they looked like prior. Neither the mill or lathe was much help due to the hardness. I used your suggestion on grinding - I ground the length of the larger, female hex down on the bench grinder then chucked it in the lathe and used a die grinder bit to radius the inside. (that was tuff) I threaded the smaller, male piece onto a capscrew and chucked it into a drill. I spun it up against the bench grinder and ground a radius profile on the end to match the inside radius of the larger piece....all done by eyeball. Then I used the Dremel with a cutoff wheel to do the slots. It works well removing all the 8mm studs on the Porsche heads I'm working on except for the exhaust studs. I'm still twisting them off....

Nice! A great solution to your problem.
Amazing what can be done by hand when necessary.

H