Ball milling 50/50 MG/AL

[dagabu]

Anything wrong with putting a high quality metal cutting blade in my chop saw, installing a "stop" jig so I can cut long lengths of 5/8 or ¾ inch rod in ¾ inch lengths rapidly?

 

Or is that fools folly?

 

 

Stainless steel needs to be cut wet, it heats up incredibility fast and galls the blade until it will not pass the cut groove. You are much better off to have the SST rod sheared. It would be 100 times faster and cost less. Any decent machine shop will have a iron worker with a hole for rod.

 

http://www.edwardsironworkers.com/multi.html

800 series is the best for tooling and cutting, forget 400 series, nothing but headaches.

 

De-burr with your ceramic media, that is what it was likely used for in the first place.

 

-dag

Edited May 12, 2011 by dagabu

[oldguy]

You are much better off to have the SST rod sheared. It would be 100 times faster and cost less. Any decent machine shop will have a iron worker with a hole for rod.

-dag

 

Good call dag.

Thanks for the astute advice.

Shearing would be quicker & easy.

LOL, I owe you one.

Need any billiard balls? (joke)

[dagabu]

Good call dag.

Thanks for the astute advice.

Shearing would be quicker & easy.

LOL, I owe you one.

Need any billiard balls? (joke)

 

Sorry, I have a rule about another mans balls....

 

-dag

[oldguy]

 

I acquired a bunch of big 98% magnesium ingots.

Any special precautions slabbing them up to smaller size, to fit in my smelting crucible.

[dagabu]

Good call dag.

Thanks for the astute advice.

LOL, I owe you one.

 

DANG! By "owe you one" I sure hope you mean one of those ingots!!

 

Keep the temp below 1100° F and you will be fine when cutting. I have had the best luck cutting Mg ingots with a bow saw such as those used to cut wood or a bone saw such as one used for quartering a large animal.

 

-dag

[oldguy]

I have a lot of spare billiard balls, but no spare Mg ingots.

 

I have a big sturdy bone saw from back in my moose & elk hunting days.

But, that seems like a lot of elbow grease work.

 

I tried a test with my chop saw.

That was an event, as it threw burning sparks straight into the sawdust catcher bag & caught it on fire.

 

Would a power hacksaw do the trick?

A buddy has a big variable speed one I can use.

It can be adjusted to a real slow rpm.

Or would that get to hot also?

[Bonny]

I have a lot of spare billiard balls, but no spare Mg ingots.

 

I have a big sturdy bone saw from back in my moose & elk hunting days.

But, that seems like a lot of elbow grease work.

 

I tried a test with my chop saw.

That was an event, as it threw burning sparks straight into the sawdust catcher bag & caught it on fire.

 

Would a power hacksaw do the trick?

A buddy has a big variable speed one I can use.

It can be adjusted to a real slow rpm.

Or would that get to hot also?

 

A power hacksaw would probably work. I thing a bandsaw would be better though.In either case, save the shavings, the will be good in fountains or even tossing into a fire.

Although, you seem to like to "Supersize" stuff, so why not build a bigger (I mean huge) melting pot and do up a massive load at a time

[Algenco]

 

I acquired a bunch of big 98% magnesium ingots.

Any special precautions slabbing them up to smaller size, to fit in my smelting crucible.

 

 

 

Sawzall with a 6 or 7 tpi wood blade will eat it up

[oldguy]

I used a charcoal starter & SS cocktail shaker for my initial batches of 50/50 Mg/Al. But, it got tedious tending it all day long. To many Budweiser's or margaritas sitting out there all day could lend itself to a stupid accident. I have a bucketful of small ingots from doing it that way. Those I intend to re-melt & do the water quenching thing with to get the pieces smaller & more brittle.

 

It's not so much about super sizing things. It is about economy & efficiency of scale. I can burn up $20 worth of briquettes in a all day affair or make it a lot safer, quicker and easier burning $20 worth of gas to do the same thing.

 

So I built a short stout kiln like box with sand filled cinder blocks mortared & lined it with firebrick mortared in on the floor & walls. I capped it with a big piece of thick steel plate. I rigged up a updraft jet type 8 inch round gas burner in the floor & piped gas to it. The kind of gas burner you can heat a 20 or 55 gallon metal drum of water to boiling with. So, now I have an off/on valve that's handy. For a crucible I am using a 3 gallon cast iron Dutch oven with a real heavy lid, bail & pour spout. Half full is easy to handle & big enough for me. I don't want to try messing with to much weight in molten metal at a time. Make a mistake with that could disfigure you for life, if not kill you.

Edited May 13, 2011 by oldguy

[dagabu]

That was an event, as it threw burning sparks straight into the sawdust catcher bag & caught it on fire.

 

I believe that some PITA guy here just mentioned that you should NOT do just that.

 

Good call Al, saws-all with a big toothed blade, I like that.

 

-dag

[oldguy]

As always Al's advice is right on the money.

Many thanks Al

Sawzall with big tooth blade works like a champ.

Wise to use a vice & set a clean wide container close under the cut, to catch the Mg particles the blade spews out.

They appear the perfect size for big Mg glitter.

 

 

 

Wife now demands a big new SS mixing bowl & still wonders what happened to her expensive Oster coffee bean grinder

Edited May 13, 2011 by oldguy

[guntoteninfadel]

WoW thats a lot of Mg!

[NightHawkInLight]

Very cool. That coarse Mg is good stuff. It goes well in epoxy based rocket fuels as well as rcandy. Looks pretty good thrown in with the lift in shells as well. I know I'm forgetting a few other things I like it for.

[Algenco]

change blades every 25lb

[oldguy]

change blades every 25lb

 

I hear you there Al.

I wore out a couple today.

Edited May 14, 2011 by oldguy

[MadMax]

Beautiful pictures!