301/302 compatibility

[AUBE]

i have some blades here made for a pickle slicing machine. they are made out of 301 stainless steel. they are prototypes for a new machine my landlord is making and they cost a small fortune to have made (like $1,000ish) they are fairly simple in design..about 6" long and .050" thick. they are experimenting with different blade shapes and bevel grinds to see what is the best for them and it costs quite a bit to have them made each time.

what im thinking is can 302 be used in place of 301? the chemical composition looks pretty close. if so 302 is much more readily available and he can have them laser cut to shape and ground by me saving him quite a bit of money.

or if you know of a supplier of 301 with a low minimum order it would be appreciated.

the few charts i can find on 301 indicate it is 17% chromium, 7% nickel with other trace elements...if anyone has a more detailed composition of this material it would also be appreciated.

thanks!

[RJ Martin]

Aube: I checked www.mcmaster,com (McMaster Supply Co.). They sell 301 SS in .075 thick, a 12' x 12" piece is just $30.70 in 1/2 hard condition (better wear resistance). They have many other sizes as well. They do credit card orders, too.
From the homepage, click on Steels under the raw material section, then, just follow the prompts.

302 SS is only available up to around .036" thick from them.

Happy slicing

[mete]

One thing about 301 is that it's more easily work hardened than the other 300 series steels.We used to make springs of it. 302 1/2 hard should do for a prototpe anyway.

[AUBE]

thanks guys.

i always forget about mcmaster...i need to order a hardcopy that gets in my way every 5mins to remember them or else they get lost in cyberspace like so many other places ive bookmarked.

after looking at the machine i see what the problem is. the blades are deflecting to the side as they cut through the pickle and smacking into the frame (which is only like .050" away and cant be moved further) right now the blades are hollow ground on one side (chisel hollow grind) with a small diameter wheel..the bevel only goes back like 1/4". im thinking if i flat grind it with double bevels carried a bit further back it would want to track straighter through the cut. i suggested making the blades thicker and wider if possible to make them more rigid...hes playing with CAD designs right now to see if its possible.

i have the feeling we may be grinding quite a few test blade shapes here since we need them in sets of 7...thanks for the advice/source it should save a bit of money.