Laser Cutting High Speed Steel
by John
As previously detailed, the rifling cutters which were made from a broken Brobo blade were unsuitable because I had not taken into account the thinning of the blade due to hollow grinding.
So I bought some high speed steel in the form of woodworking thicknesser blades, which were 3mm thick. Also, I redesigned the cutters to be a bit more robust, and take a 4mm pin instead of the previous 3mm pin, which looked a bit spindly.
6 cutters from one thicknesser blade 225mm long, 3mm thick
3.03mm thick. Just right.
johnsmachines 
Interesting, John. Does the laser cutting affect the tool steel, or you need to harden it afterwards anyway? I guess it will need a bit of grinding to clean it up after laser cutting
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Hi Stuart, the tool steel seemed unaffected by the laser cutting. I had 6 cutters made, not knowing how they would perform, but required only one to make 6 rifling grooves, with 2 edge touchups with a diamond file. John.
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