I have a small project where I would like to cut a 12 x 12mm square hole through a 22mm thick piece of 4E cast iron. My initial plan was to grind a 1/4" square piece of HSS into the shape of a slotting tool and use it in the pretend slotting head I made years ago for my little Hercus mill. Without the presence of coolant the HSS has turned numerous shades of purple and I have worn away a lot of my cup wheel so I have pretty much abandoned the slotting idea.

The current idea is to use a cut down file in the slotting head. I will need to make some sort of keyed backing piece for the file to avoid the possibility of bending the file with the toolpost's clamping screw. The file pictured, an English Stubbs in good nick, won't be the donor for modification. Die filers usually have their files clamped top and bottom but I'm thinking that if I used a file about 3/8" square I might have enough ridgidity.

Has anyone tried something like this?

Filer (Large).jpg Filer 1 (Large).jpg

BT
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