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I need a section of railroad track milled flat in NJ

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:51 pm
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.

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

Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:47 pm
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

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

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:27 am
by JackF
The ones I have seen made from railroad ties have a wide flat piece welded to the top.

Jack.

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

Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 8:51 am
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.

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

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:18 pm
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

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

Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 9:06 pm
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

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

Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 9:40 pm
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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