I need a section of railroad track milled flat in NJ

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VKPIII
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:10 pm
Location: Cranford, NJ

I need a section of railroad track milled flat in NJ

Post by VKPIII »

I have a 4' section of track that I would like make an anvil out of. I need cut it to about 16" and have the top milled flat. I live in union county area of NJ. If anyone can do this locally please let me know.
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rudd
Posts: 754
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:21 pm
Location: savannah ga.

Re: I need a section of railroad track milled flat in NJ

Post by rudd »

Hello,

I've reworked one of these that got abused. Something to think about, the top surface of the rail is work hardened from use, not the inside.

What you ask is not a hard job, I'm sure you'll find someone local.

R
JackF
Posts: 1616
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:56 pm
Location: Caldwell, Idaho

Re: I need a section of railroad track milled flat in NJ

Post by JackF »

The ones I have seen made from railroad ties have a wide flat piece welded to the top.

Jack.
PeteH
Posts: 1065
Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:49 pm
Location: Tidewater Virginia, USA

Re: I need a section of railroad track milled flat in NJ

Post by PeteH »

I think you'll have better luck getting it ground flat, rather than milled. I have a section that I cut from an old track, and the work-hardening is clearly visible on the cut surface, about 1/8" thick at the top. When I first got it, I tried to clean it up with a belt-sander, and while I did eventually get it clean, it took a LOT of sanding. I pretty much gave up on trying to get it flat.

BTW -- why not check FleaBay and Craigslist for anvils. Sometimes you can get them pretty cheaply.
Pete in NJ
JHenriksen
Posts: 286
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2003 8:39 pm
Location: Roscoe, Illinois

Re: I need a section of railroad track milled flat in NJ

Post by JHenriksen »

Just heat the piece up and hammer the top flat. While you're at it, hammer the horn out. Takes a while to heat that much but it doesnt cool off to fast either
AlphaGeek
Posts: 284
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:30 pm
Location: Silicon Valley

Re: I need a section of railroad track milled flat in NJ

Post by AlphaGeek »

Having recently expended a number of end mills trying to do this type of job, I can confirm that milling is tue wrong approach for anything but a final finish pass with a flycutter. Mark the target shape on the rail profile, then get a grinder and a stack of heavy duty metal grinding wheels and go to work. I ended up using this approach after some really spectacular end mill failures due to hardened spots encountered at random throughout the rail metal.

AG
Rule number one: Everything takes longer and costs more.
larry_g
Posts: 233
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:19 pm
Location: Oregon

Re: I need a section of railroad track milled flat in NJ

Post by larry_g »

I did a section of rail on a shaper and it worked good. So if you can find a shaper then you may have better luck than with a mill.

lg
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