I've been uber nerding it up lately

[Colorado_Outback]

I have no clue... Will do at some point. Thanks

I would suspect that "Surgical Stainless Steel" is very much like "Aircraft Grade Aluminum"; kind of a misnomer. The aircraft industry specs a variety of different alloys for aluminum parts, just as the medical industry does with SS.

Any free machining SS like 303 should work just fine for you.

[merl]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_stainless_steel

possibly this applies but it appears you are right and there are different types.

Most surgical equipment is made out of martensitic steel—it is much harder than austenitic steel, and easier to keep sharp. Depending on the type of equipment, the alloy recipe is varied slightly to get more sharpness or more strength.

[Colorado_Outback]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_stainless_steel

possibly this applies but it appears you are right and there are different types.

Interesting, thanks for posting that up.

Most of the medical stuff we do at my work is non surgical.

Also should have put a disclaimer on my advice... I'm a welder, not a machinist so my knowledge on SS alloying is entry level-ish. I just work with a bunch of them

[Danimal]

Deleted

[skullybones]

SST has some heat transfer issues. Basically you have to have the exact right milling speed. Too slow and you rub meaning that you contact friction melt your tools. If you have a super expensive mill, and the $20,000 plus software package to run it there is no issue and they can crank it out as easy as anything else. But anything less than that you have to sit there and watch the machine to make sure you don't eat a end mill. It is very interesting, if I mill too slow even on wood it will friction start a fire, but if I cut through with blazing speed it is not even warm to the touch. I think that the added hassle makes some machinists shy away from it for small one off production.

Right tool for the job definitely helps. SS can certainly eat tools if the Surface Footage is off. Machine rigidity is crucial as well.
The software only gets you so far. The principles you outlined make a project run a lot smoother when added to awesome CAM software.

I have always been intrigued by the home built equipment. Nice work.