Greetings fellow makers.
I have these…
http://www.widgetco.com/shelf-pins-bronze-1-4-L
http://www.widgetco.com/shelf-pins-brass-1-4-L
The pins are too long. I need the pins to be just a bit less than 6 mm (versus the current 9.5 mm). What is the best way to tackle the problem? Grinding wheel? Is brass or bronze OK for the grinding wheel in the metal shop?
The short answer to the question asked, no.
The longer answers to why and what to do:
Grinding soft metals with the wheels in the metal shop is inadvisable (possibly even “forbidden”) due to stone explosion. In short, those wheels are made for ferrous material, and will “load up” with soft materials, which then expands when heated, causing the grinding stone to fracture, become airborn, and wreak havoc (i.e. “become highly velocitous shrapnel”).
Which having said, I suspect the “antique bronze finish” pins you show are not bronze in construction. IF they are steel, grind away. If they are brass, it’s still a non-starter. The brass pins you link appear to actually BE brass, and should not be ground on the grinders in metal shop.
So, what to do?
Here’s a nice article about this business, which suggests using a sanding device (in this case, a “Dremel”, but really any sanding device should work).
There are also files, but be advised that MOST files you find are intended for steel, and will also load up, and really, really annoy the next person who wants to use it (or you, if you clean it properly after ‘abusing’ it).
I don’t know about trying to use it to cut 3.5mm off the length, but there are always saws: hacksaws, band saws, reciprocating saws, etc. should make short work of cutting through the softer materials, but i don’t know how well trying to cut off such a short bit of material will work.
Then there’s always brandoning it: fixture them up in the Bridgeport and shave away. Likely more work than you want, but if you’re doing many of them, that might actually be worthwhile.
Oh, same method in the lathes, might also work…
I’d test them to see if they are steel or what they say they are. I would also jig them up in the Bridgeport. Realistically they should be easy to throw in the vise.
This is where the smaller Sherline mill would be perfect.
Excellent! Thank you all for the replies!
The pins arrived yesterday. As far as I can tell they are solid bronze (the wife went with that option).
I am going with Dremel. To start, I only need a few cut. I have a Dremel. If something goes wrong I won’t cause much damage.
I cannot recommend https://www.widgetco.com enough! The price was good. Shipping was reasonable. Delivery was quick. Executing the order was simple. The parts are very good quality (e.g. the L is consistently 1.5 mm thick). It was even fairly easy to model in SolidWorks!