This was a fun project I knocked out to make some simple Halloween decorations here a few years back. I wanted to make a few sets of these and I was hoping they would last a good number of years, so I decided to make the project from stainless steel.
Just like aluminum, Stainless has many quite different effects while it cuts compared to mild steel.
And also, like aluminum the “show” while cutting is massivly different when cutting stainless than when cutting mild steel. The sparks are much more on the white side (less red/orange/yellow) and the volume of top side sparks is much, much higher. Fun to watch though.
I was making 5 sets of these for various people, so this sheet (and a small amount of another one) were completely consumed.
I spent a lot of time getting these cleaned up with an angle grinder.
And then my 86yr old Mother dropped by for a visit and asked the perinate question, … ‘Shouldn’t these be black for Haloween?’ Sigh, plam to face, if only she had been a day earlier I could have saved all that time spent with the angle grinder.
So, it was on to powdercoating…
And then I knocked out a quick set of frame parts on the lathe and mill…
And this was the mock-up, put together with string. I was going to use a small amount of stainless control line but I only had a tiny bit on hand. This was 2020 and it is still on my todo list to get over to various relatives houses and upgrade it. 