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On 23 Sep 2003 at 0:22, Mark Seaton wrote: > I'm no metalurgist but I think that stainless steels have far more of a > claim to fame than just not rusting? I know that most machinists hate to > work them because of their toughness/work hardening properties. Toughness > sounds like a good property for a valve, but work hardening maybe not. Like most metals, machining stainless just requires that you know how to deal with it. I'm not a machinist, but the place where I used to work had a BIG shop and did a LOT of work in stainless. There, it was considered run-of-the-mill. If you're really after tough strong materials, there are steels which are 3 times the strength of any stainless alloy. I was actually making a rather unimportant part on the lathe this afternoon. The material I had was just hot rolled steel and it was quite awful: soft and gummy. This makes it hard to get a decent finish. I know I've done much better with some stainless parts I've made, and, like I said, I'm not a machinist. I wish I knew more about this, as it applies to valves, but I really don't. It may just be that stainless valves are slightly lighter (it is somewhat less dense) but I don't think the difference is that significant. Valve weight IS important, however, when you start talking high RPMs and high lifts. OTOH, just like steels, there are lots of different stainless alloys. There may be some that are particularly good for valves. For those who advertise valves, do they ever mention which alloy they use? -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org