Drill Stem

[Double D]

I was scrounging at the scrap yard this afternoon and came across some drill stem, 7 or 8 lengths about 10-12 feet long. Didn't have a tape measure, did have an ink pen and a dollar bill.  Made some tick marks and measured when I got home.

What I found is 5.25 diameter, 1.5 thick wall, so the makes the bore 2.25.  Little short on wall thickness.

I know we have had this discussion before , but I couldn't find the topic. 

I just googled drill stem and could not come up with a composition for it.  I did come up with this website Kingsland Drill and got this information

Material Specifications

Pipe Body:
New Seamless
Minimum Yield Strength: 80,000 psi
Minimum Tensile Strength: 100,000 psi
Minimum Elongation: 15%

Tool Joints:
Minimum Yield Strength: 110,000 psi
Minimum Tensile Strength: 160,000 psi
Through Hardness : 32-36 HRC
Surface Hardness*: 58-62 HRC

Joining Methods:
Friction Welding

Inspection Procedure:
Mechanical Testing each batch to ensure weld integrity


There is also an 800 number so I called them.  The guy I talked with on the phone was very helpful.  He told me the material will be hig in carbon.  The fittings on either end of the pipe will be heat treated 4140.  The fittings are welded onto the pipe and around the weld the metal will be pretty hard.  The center section is seamless tubing and should have a hardness of 20-25 and be made of steel in the range of 4130 to 4145--high carbon.

This is gunbarrel stuff.

I wonder if I can work this stuff on my lathe with high speed steel tooling.
 

[GGaskill]

Rc 25 is no harder than normal high power rifle barrels and I don't think I have ever threaded such with anything but HSS.  Should be fine although carbide will stay sharp longer and allow faster material removal.

If you are uncomfortable with the wall/bore ratio, you could always shrink on a Parrott-style reinforcing band.

So the only real issue is, "Is your lathe big enough?"

[Double D]

1248 Lathe.

I think I will talk to the guy at the scrap yard. Hummm... how about a 4 foot length of this as a door prize at the cannon shoot?

[KABAR2]

Someone  who was on here for a short time & worked in the oil industry and had build at least two cannon

out of this material with good success  so it is a candidate for possible smoke and fire.............

[GGaskill]

...how about a 4 foot length of this as a door prize at the cannon shoot?

Sounds good to me.  Is the scrap dealer open on the weekends?

[Double D]

If the price is right all off this stuff may be in my back yard by August

[Frank46]

Double D, great now all you have to find is a guillotine saw (either powered by air or electric) an air compressor or generator, a good supply of blades a can of motor oil and away you go. Have used both types cutting oil line pipeing and usually you get good straight cuts. Little messy but what the heck, at least it keeps you out of the bars and off  the streets. Go for it. Frank

[dan610324]

the pipes is no problem, but the fittings with an hardness of up to 62 rockwell is a tiny bit to tough for hss tools .
Im not sure but if not my brain playing games with me I think the hss bits are approximately 65 - 69 rockwell
teoretical it should be ok , but I wouldnt even try .

[Double D]

I am going to revisit that stuff tomorrow with note pad and tape measure and see what is realy there.  I know at least one piece I looked at only had about 1/2 walls.  I am going through and see what is what.  One piece of the thick wall stuff was partially torch cut in 4 or 5 foot sections.  Pictures and inventory tomorrow.

The fittings will be cut off.

[dan610324]

as it is high carbon steel you may have problems if it is cut with a torch .

could get hard as h--l . take a file with you and test if it bites at the cut surface .
if so it wouldnt be any problem .

[Victor3]

 I see that the fittings are attached using "friction welding".

 You might want to make sure the material is able to be welded using common methods. Friction welding is a relatively expensive process, often used to fuse dissimilar materials where other methods won't give a strong enough joint.

 If the material is actually 4140 and not 4130, it will make a difference in weldability. It might not be suited for cannon bbls where welding is required in the construction.

[Double D]

Victor good point on the weldability issue.  The guy I talked to on the phone mentioned the welding issue.  He said the material will have to be preheated to weld.  He said since I am in oil country it shouldn't be too hard to find someone familiar with this type welding.

I went back and measured the steel in the scrap yard.

1 piece 6 inch diameter x 1 1/2 inch wall  11 feet long (I will go back and remeasure the wall on this one)
1 piece 5 3/4 inch diameter x 1 3/4 inch wall  11 feet long
1 piece 6 inch diameter x 1 3/4 inch wall, torch cut at 5 feet, welded joint at 13 feet, 16 feet long
1 piece 5 3/4 inch diameter x 1 3/4 inch wall torch count at 5 feet, 16 feet long.

I talked to the scrap yard owner and we estimated the 6 inch 16 footer at 800 lbs and he wants $25 for that.

I didn't take any pictures it was to darn cold!!!

[GGaskill]

...800 lbs and he wants $25 for that.

A bargain at twice the price.  Scrap steel down here goes for fifty cents a pound.

[Double D]

One of the obvious things is that the wall thickness doesn't meet the one calibar wall thickness safety guidline.  This steel is in a different class than say 1018.  This is the same stuff as smokeless powder rifle barrels are made from.  There is a rule of thumb for this stuff.

Roy Dunlap in his book Gunsmithing laid it out this way:  "The walls of the barrel at the chamber, illustrated as the cylinder section should not be less than two-thirds as thick as the diameter of the body of the cartridge" 

We have 4 different pieces measure as follows:

6 inch diameter x 1 1/2 inch wall has 3 inch bore. 2/3 of 3 inch is 2 inchs...this piece is to thin walled even for the smokeless powder rule of thumb. I am going to remeasure this one tomorrow.
   
5 3/4 inch diameter x 1 3/4 inch has 2.25 inch bore. 2/3 of 2.25 inch is 1.5 inch.  These two are okay.

6 inch diameter x 1 3/4 inch wall has a 2.5 inch bore.  2/3 of 2.5 inch is 1.66.  This one is okay.

The is going to need to be some clean up both ID and OD, but if your careful 2.6 bore should achieveable

Lets see a Napolean. 36 inch piece! Make it 2.66 bore and shoot pop can diameter zinc round balls....

Or pop can mortar lots of them. 

[BoomLover]

Hey, Douglas, I might have missed it, but, did you get any of this stuff? Or, are you waiting till it thaws out? Some of this would make a great "Door Prize"! BoomLover

[Double D]

I didn't get any yet.  It's there when I want it.  I'm still thinking about getting some for my use.

The recycling place is not open on Saturday's.  If anyone is interested in one of these rods let me know and I'll check it out for you.

I need to pick up a piece of that drill rod and take it home and see if it really would be suitable for cannon.   They used the center of the pipe to pump mud so sometime these pipes are plugged.

Jim, if we had a piece of this of this stuff as a door prize, would that be the make or break if you were to come?